There are currently 26 children with a critical illness across Hobart waiting for their dream to turn into a reality thanks to the brilliant work of the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Since 1992, the non-profit organisation has helped grant the wishes of more than 200 children across the city.

Families of three children currently on the waiting list have shared their story with The Mercury.

Grace Gibbons

Grace Gibbons was just four-years-old when she was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

Her mum Lee Field said the news came as a “very big shock”.

“You think ‘why is it happening to us?’, but we turned our thoughts around and thought ‘why wouldn’t it?’. A lot of families have to go through things like this,” Ms Field.

“It was very frightening in the beginning not knowing what the prognosis would be. We were grateful for the prognosis she had.

“The disruptions that go along with treatment and not knowing when you’ll be back in hospital was the hardest part.

“There’s always watchfulness and rejigging your life when things go wrong.

“It's an uncertainty that you live with in all that time with chemo.”

Ms Field said Grace, now 9, hadn’t had chemotherapy for two and a half years and was enjoying being back at school.

Growing up in a family that loves the outdoors, Grace’s wish is to sleep next to animals and wake up with them the next morning.

“We’ve always been a family that tries to do outdoors stuff, have holidays in the bush and go to different places where we can see birds and animals,” Ms Field said.

“She’s always been interested in it over the years and she’s become quite attentive about what she sees around her.”

The Make-A-Wish Foundation is aiming to have Grace and her family spend time at Dubbo Zoo in New South Wales.

“The volunteers and people who run this organisation are amazing with what they do,” Ms Field said.

“For families going through difficult times to take a holiday is a big deal. It’s a massive thing.

“They provide a lot of joy.”

Harvey Trotter

The legendary Steve Irwin wasn’t just known for being a great larrikin, but also for his caring heart and tenacious attitude.

Harvey Trotter, who’s a huge fan of The Crocodile Hunter, has those qualities in spades if the last two years is anything to go buy.

Harvey was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma, a cancerous brain tumour, when he was just three-years-old.

After surgery in Hobart, Harvey and his family relocated to Melbourne and bounced between the two cities for treatment.

The now five-year-old has just reached 12 months in remission.

“There’s still a long way to go, but fingers crossed,” his father Ian Trotter said.

“There’s still a couple of danger years ahead, and then comes all the problems and side affects.

“He had high dose radiation as a three-year-old, which is not recommended, so he’ll have issues come up.”

Harvey studied crocodiles while he was in hospital and became fascinated with the creature.

It’s an animal also close to Mr Trotter’s heart as a former zookeeper.

“You try to let them (children) develop interests themselves, but from early on he was into dinosaurs and animals,” Mr Trotter said.

“It wasn’t until he found Steve Irwin when he was getting treatment when I told him I used to work with crocodiles as well.

“I showed him the old photos and that was it, he was hooked.”

Mr Trotter said his son even passed on his new-found knowledge of the animal to nurses and doctors on his ward.

“He taught them everything,” he said.

Harvey’s obsession with crocs has led the Make-A-Wish Foundation to step in to try and bring his dream of seeing the animal in the flesh to life.

Harvey hopes to spend a day at Australia Zoo as a zookeeper.

Maxwell Ford-Richards

Maxwell Ford-Richards has just celebrated a milestone his family will never forget after the Hobart youngster had a rough start to life.

The now six-year-old was diagnosed with a form of bone cancer when he was just 15 months old, throwing his little world on its head.

“We went to the doctor’s because his right leg was turning out as he walked,” Mum Julie Ford said.

“The doctor said it was a virus in the knee and to come back in a week. We came back and pushed for an x-ray and that showed shading on the knee.

“It was about two weeks later we got a call saying we had to go to Melbourne for scans.

“They didn’t want to tell us why initially but I asked and they said ‘we think it’s Osteosarcoma and we need scans to see if it’s spread’.”

The family flew to the Victorian capital and were relieved when they found out the cancer was localised to the knee.

Max underwent ten weeks of chemotherapy, then surgery to remove the cancer, before another long spell of chemo.

The youngster had to get a major rotational plastics knee operation as a result of the cancer.

“They didn’t tell us at the start Max may lose his leg,” Miss Ford said.

“We chose rotational plastics because we thought it would be better than an above the knee amputation for a boy who wants to play sport.”

Max has just celebrated five years of being cancer free.

The Bowen Road Primary student has a fascination with animals, a passion he picked up off his older brother Nate.

“He loves watching documentaries, he sits there and watches Steve Irwin and Bindi. He wrote to David Attenborough while he was in hospital and he wrote back to him.”

The Make-A-Wish Foundation are working to make Max’s dream of having an interactive crocodile experience at Australia Zoo come true.

“We gave him some options but he wants to go see the crocodiles. He’s super excited for it.”