The trio of brightly coloured captains from the Starlight Australia spaceship brought much-needed smiles to the faces of the children.

They couldn’t exactly climb down the chimney, but in their Santa sacks the musketeers brought the children soft toys, balloon animals, party hats, puzzles and much more.

The children’s parents were overwhelmed as the Starlight foundation added some Christmas cheer to the hospital ward.

“It’s good to see things like this happening. It helps the kids recover quickly,” parent John Gow said.

“It gives the kids a comfort and helps them forget about what’s going on.”

Mr Gow’s son Broadie hasn’t sent Santa his Christmas wish list just yet but was given a nice surprise when Starlight Australia came to visit.

“Captain Starlight gave him a new stuffed toy,” Mr Gow said.

Thankfully, Broadie won’t be spending his first Christmas at Dubbo Base Hospital, but there will still be many that will.

The superheroes headed back to Orange yesterday afternoon before landing in Sydney today, for their final visits before Christmas.

The trio has been jet setting across NSW delivering presents to sick children in regional areas for the past few months.

“It’s quite special to bring smiles to the faces of kids in the regional areas,” one Captain Starlight said.

“Anything that’ll make them smile just a little bit and forget about their situations,” she added.

Currently, the Starlight Foundation is able to reach one in every three sick children across Australia.

“We are aiming to be able to reach one in every one sick child by 2010,” Captain Starlight said.

The Starlight Foundation has received more than 80 wishes from terminally ill children in 2008 alone and aims to grant each wish before Christmas.

emma.mastronardi@rur alpress.com