Aspiring Paralympic swimmer Victoria, from NSW, has been named one of the winners of the Redkite and Coles Dare to Dream Scholarship for 2024. 

“My dream is to represent Australia at one of the Paralympics or many times at the Paralympics. I’m very passionate about swimming, and it’s the top level you can get.” 

The Redkite and Coles Dare to Dream Scholarship was established 11 years ago, to inspire young people whose physical or mental health has been affected by cancer and to achieve their goals and ambitions. This scholarship, funded by Coles, helps young people build their future and can be put towards education or life goals.    

Diagnosed with Pilocytic astrocytoma, a type of brain tumour, aged just three years old, Victoria has overcome significant hardships to get to where she is now, at 17. One week after her diagnosis, she went in for her first brain surgery to debulk the tumour.  

“During brain surgery I had a stroke, which left me with left side hemiplegia. This has hugely impacted on my walking – I wear a splint on my left leg – and ability to use my left arm. The surgery also left me with a left hemianopia, so I am not allowed to drive.” 

At the time of diagnosis, all four of Wendy and Ken’s children were under ten years old.  

“So they were all really young. It was just chaotic, basically. Traumatic, chaotic, all those things,” Wendy said. 

After her first surgery, Victoria had six months of intensive physical rehab as a result of the stroke. A year later, the tumour had returned, so 15 months of chemotherapy followed. 

When Victoria started school, that was when she started to feel different to the other kids in her class. 

“I remember I felt so excluded from school. I missed out on days heaps of kids wait for, like pyjama day.

Victoria would attend school about three times a week through treatment and physical therapy. For four or five years, the tumour was stable, but once she began high school, tests revealed the tumour had once again started to grow back. She had chemotherapy over the first two years of high school. 

“At the end of year nine I got a scan, because I was finding my physical body was going down again, and I was going blind as well. A cyst had grown out of the tumour. So at the end of November 2022, I had my second brain surgery.” 

In 2023, Victoria was losing physical strength, so she started fortnightly immunotherapy treatments.  

Throughout all her treatments and setbacks, Victoria has been surrounded by a strong support network. Nothing has been as impactful for her as swimming, which she was first introduced to in hydrotherapy, six weeks after her brain surgery. 

“At the start, it was rough. It was hard finding a club. I swam with a lot of older people but I wanted to swim with kids my age.” 

She has been coached by a number of swim coaches who encouraged and pushed her to train in ways that worked for her body, building not just physical strength but mental strength as well. 

“Swimming helps my body because I don’t have to wear any braces, no treatments, no needles. It’s just me and my discipline.” 

“I just felt so out of place sometimes, so swimming has just kept me going and it’s something that I can somewhat control. Even though my body sometimes lets me down, I’ll never stop it, and I want to go far.” 

Earlier this year, Victoria qualified for the 2024 Paralympic swimming trials in Brisbane.  

She has immense support from her swimming and school community, who live-streamed her Paralympic swimming trials to the students. 

She got to meet Australian swimming champions like Ariane Titmus, Mollie O-Callaghan and Tim Hodge. 

“I got to meet a lot of big names, but also form friendships and form relationships, mentoring, so it was very special.” 

“I love swimming because it doesn’t put me in a box where I cannot control circumstances relating to my health. A big goal in my life is to represent Australia at the Paralympics in 2028 in LA.” 

One of her other goals is to become a better communicator, so she can go on to better represent and advocate for people with disabilities. 

“I would love to show people that they can do stuff too, no matter their challenges and their circumstances.” 

The Dare to Dream Scholarship will help fund Victoria’s dream of getting to the Paralympics and achieving her goal of representing Australia. 

“I think I can do it, and with the support that I already have, I believe I can get there.” 

Since 2013, Redkite and Coles have awarded 500 Dare to Dream Scholarships worth over $800,500 to support young Australians whose aspirations and goals have been impacted by their cancer diagnosis.