Bacchus Marsh boy Noah Barlow, 6, who has spent most of his life in hospital battling mitochondrial disease and being tube-fed, wanted a carnival cubby and veggie patch so that he could cook for his mum and dad.

Make-A-Wish Australia approached Culcairn business Little Hipster Kubby to deliver the backyard makeover in early May.

Little Hipster Kubby owners Jonathan and Jade Phillips designed a Luna Park cubby and market garden to complement the new sensory garden.

“The Luna Park cubby was an original design and we’d never painted a cubby blue before,” Ms Phillips said.

“Noah ran around in circles over it; he has the best personality.

“We gave him a compost and a worm farm as well and Noah touched a worm for the first time; he thought that was pretty good.”

Ms Phillips said the community rallied at the end of the four-day makeover too.

“It was amazing the support we got from the community; we have made friends for life,” she said.

“One night working on the garden late Noah’s mum told us Noah would like us to go in and say ‘goodnight’ to him; we were really touched by that.”

In the lead-up to Noah’s wish, Garden Gnome Jimmy Pickles travelled all over Australia to gather the best things for the garden.

Noah’s mum Kat Barlow said her son was thrilled when the postcards arrived.

“That’s when he started to feel like his wish was coming true,” she said.

“We’ll be able to grow safe foods and hopefully some of these plants will be the first things that go in his feeding tube. Even on Noah’s worst days he’ll be able to look at everything and see what’s going on – it’s such a good, sensory place, and he’s going to get such joy seeing everything grow.” 

For more than 30 years Make-A-Wish has been the only charity in Australia solely focused on granting bespoke, life-changing wishes to children and teenagers battling life-threatening medical conditions.

Every day six families in Australia learn their child has a life-threatening illness. Make-A-Wish can reach one-quarter of them.

To see how you can get involved, visit makeawish.org.au or phone 1800 032 260.