How Ollie White made waves with ‘The Champ’ Mick Fanning

The shock organ failure that hit a surfing-mad Adelaide boy feels like a lifetime ago now after his hero made a Christmas wish come true.

Last Christmas, 10-year-old Ollie White received a once-in-a-lifetime present – a video message from three-time world champion Mick Fanning inviting him to go surfing on the Gold Coast.

It took a little while to negotiate the logistics, but on Tuesday the keen Seacliff Park grommet finally achieved his dream of riding the famous Snapper Rocks with the bloke who made headlines around the globe for punching a great white shark on the nose.

And while not every young surfer gets pushed into waves by “The Champ”, not every young surfer has been forced to endure a sudden liver failure and subsequent organ transplant.

But this week all operations and hospital stays seemed like a lifetime ago as Fanning hand-picked perfect waves and pushed his new mate on to them.

“It didn’t feel real. He pushed my board into every wave, and he was blocking the other surfers for me,” Ollie said. “I’d like to be a pro surfer for my job one day.”

Ollie received his transplant in 2019 after his liver suddenly, and inexplicably, shut down – just weeks after he took third place in the under-10 state championship scooter finals.

He was placed at the top of the transplant list and flown to Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital and, after a 10-hour operation, became the 189th child to undergo an organ transplant there.

Ollie White with Mick Fanning on the Gold Coast. Picture: Lauren White

Ollie White with Mick Fanning. Picture: Lauren White

Now, apart from the odd little issue here and there, Ollie is a healthy youngster who loves nothing more than hitting the waves with his dad, Henry.

“When we were in hospital there was talk of working with Make-A-Wish and I couldn’t even process it at the time,” Ollie’s mum, Lauren, said.

“But later on, we worked with them. They gave him a little coin to put under his pillow at night to help him work out what his dream would be.

“Ollie came up with the idea of surfing with Mick Fanning, and among Covid and all the other things it was a pretty astronomical effort from Make-A-Wish to make this happen.”

Ms White said Fanning couldn’t have been more generous with his time. “He was such a great guy,” she said.

“We had a chat and got to know each other and then Mick took Ollie out and they had almost an hour in the water.

“Then he took Ollie and his sister, Clare, to the Rip Curl shop and got them a few things each.

“Then we thought our time must be up but Mick said ‘Shall we go and grab a coffee?’.”

For Make-A-Wish, Oliver’s day with Mick was part of its 100 Wishes in 100 Days campaign, to clear the backlog caused by the pandemic.

“Like most charities, Make-A-Wish Australia was hit pretty hard by Covid-19, and as a result we have more than 800 critically ill children counting down the days until their wishes can be granted,” chief executive Sally Bateman said.

“Together with our volunteer arm – our Wish Force – we are absolutely committed to making these wishes happen as soon as possible.”