Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Australia Day a very special young woman became the 2017 Parramatta Young Citizen of the Year. Gabriella Wehbe was the assistant head girl of Our Lady of Mercy College in Parramatta and completed her HSC last year. But, unlike many other young women of her age, Gabbie finished the HSC at the same time as she battled cancer. While running in the 2015 City2Surf, she felt a twinge in her foot, an operation was performed and rare cancer cells were discovered. A week later the family found themselves in the Chris O'Brien Lifehouse receiving the bad news. Gabbie was diagnosed with an aggressive tissue cancer that affects teenagers between the ages of 15 and 20 and has a 15 per cent mortality rate. Throughout her treatment, Gabbie continued to attend classes and play netball, She emceed her school's graduation ceremony and won the prestigious Catherine McAuley prize.

But that is not why she was awarded this prestigious young citizen of the year award. It is not what she did for herself and her community; it is what she did for others. Through all that, while she did her HSC, while she was treated for cancer, while she supported her school as assistant head girl, she managed to raise $200,000 for the Lifehouse foundation that had so supported her through her illness. This is an extraordinary young woman. She has already done more than many of us will in our life, and I wish her all the best for the next chapter.