After a shock cancer diagnosis, terminally ill Simon Baraniec’s dying wish was simple.
The Port Adelaide Football Club fan wanted to return to Adelaide Oval, a place close to his heart, to have a beer and pie with his friends and family.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Terminally ill footy fan granted final wish to enjoy beer and pie with mates at Adelaide Oval.
Baraniec, 55, was diagnosed with spinal cancer in November 2023 and is the first person to participate in Ambulance Wish South Australia, created for palliative patients.
He arrived in a St John’s ambulance and enjoyed his first beer in five months before being taken for a tour of the oval, where his favourite team play.
Baraniec praised Ambulance Wish for going above and beyond what he asked for, even putting his name on the oval scoreboard.
“I’m gobsmacked, I’m awe struck by that,” he said when he saw the scoreboard.
“It’s got to be the best day I’ve had, by far,” Baraniec said.
Sister, Alison Topham, said they wouldn’t be able to wipe the smile off her brother’s face for weeks.
“Money can’t buy anything like this,” she said.
Wishes granted for terminally ill South Australians
Palliative Care SA launched Ambulance Wish in partnership with St John’s SA and Flinders University, with the aim of delivering wishes to 100 terminally ill patients annually.
Palliative Care SA chief executive Shyla Mills said approximately 12,000 people die in South Australia from a palliative illness each year.
She said it’s hoped the broader community and corporate organisations will donate to the project, so it is viable into the future.
“At the end stage of life, often simple things make a big difference. It might be a trip home for a cup of tea, it might be to Adelaide Oval to see your team play, it might be having a pie or a beer with your mates,” Mills said.
“That’s what this program is about.”
The South Australian government has donated $250,000 to the charity, while St John’s has donated an ambulance dedicated to the program.
A number of St John’s volunteers will also help provide participants with medical support.
Mills said the Ambulance Wish program was inspired by a similar initiative, Stichting Ambulance Wens, in the Netherlands.
Ambulance Wish started in Queensland., before expanding to South Australia.
“We had one lady that had done up her kitchen and then had to move into the palliative care unit, and she just wanted to go and see that kitchen and have a cup of tea there,” Mills said about a Queensland woman’s wish.
