About Mummy’s Wish
Practical support for mums with cancer
A mum with cancer is still a mum
Every year 5000 Australian mums with children under 13 receive the devastating news they have cancer.
Mummy’s Wish helps manage the distressing burden of cancer on mums and their families by providing practical, tailored support during the entire treatment journey. This support gives the gift of time to mums with cancer so they can focus on what’s most important, being a mum.
Our support includes:
- Ongoing contact with a qualified, experienced support coordinator
- Care packs
- Recordable comfort bears
- Cleaning services
- Healthy meals
- Grocery and fuel vouchers
- Counselling sessions
- Priceless information and resources
- And much more!
Our Impact
Mummy’s Wish has supported more than 5000 families since 2007. We currently support 1000 of the 5000 mums diagnosed with cancer who have children under 13 every year.
It is our goal is to deliver our service to every mum who receives a cancer diagnosis and has children under 13 by the year 2025.
Find out more about our impact here.
Our Leadership Team
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Jennet Niven, Chair / Secretary Jennet is an experienced executive director, lawyer, and former teacher with over eighteen years experience in the financial and professional services sector in leadership and director roles. |
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Trevor Cuss, Director |
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Megan Naylor, Treasurer Megan is a Fellow of CPA Australia and an accomplished finance professional with over 20 years corporate accounting experience. She is experienced across a range of industries, including government, mining, leisure, broadcast, and not-for-profit. |
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Angelique Ettia, CEO Angelique is a purpose-driven senior executive and board director with a history of transforming businesses into sustainable entities through mission-focused campaigns that meet stakeholder needs and support sustainable growth. |
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Rachel Burke, Remuneration & Nominations Committee Rachel has worked for a large retail company for over 25 years. As she progressed in the company, she acquired a large array of skills in the HR policy, process, and system space. |
Our Story
Our founder knows all too well the shock and fear associated with finding out you have cancer when you have a young family to care for. Mummy’s Wish was founded by Queensland mum Bernadette Vella who understands firsthand how daunting the doctor’s words “you have cancer” are when you are the primary carer of young children. Mummy’s Wish delivers a unique and critical support services, refined and developed following the personal experience of its founder and the many mums we have supported since we were founded in 2007.

Just 14 weeks into her pregnancy with daughter Arielle, the founder of Mummy’s Wish, Bernadette, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

At 32, with a 12-week-old baby, Gayle was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Her family went into over-drive, sorting out babysitting between the grandparents so her husband could work to pay the bills.