Weaver Family

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Blenheim’s Weaver Family needs some support.

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Yvonne Weaver was a statuesque, energetic woman but that all changed on 31 July this year. The family’s main income earner, the early childhood teacher was rushed to Wairau Hospital where within a matter of hours she learnt she had breast and bone cancer. She is now largely confined to bed and the family needs some financial help.

Their large network of friends has rallied and Harvey Norman in Blenheim gave them a generous discount on a double adjustable hospital bed, so that husband, Donald and their two children, Joseph and Aroha, can curl up next to her. But with no income, they are in some financial difficulty and as well as day to day needs, will need to buy a new car in which Yvonne can travel comfortably as she undergoes treatment over the coming months.

Swiss-born Yvonne met Kiwi husband Donald, a natural healer, at the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland. She came to Blenheim in 1990 and took on life at a hundred miles an hour, teaching French, German, dance and art and working for organisations such as CCS and the Schizophrenia Fellowship. She trained as a primary and early childhood teacher and has taught at Blenheim’s Montessori and St Mary’s pre-schools.

Yvonne is frustrated and ashamed that she can no longer support her family. She talks with her usual humour and verve but also breaks down as she explains how she worked and planned: “ I could always find money for things for the children, whether I worked or did private lessons. But now I can’t do a thing.”

Yvonne has spent four weeks at Wairau and Wellington Hospitals and the Marlborough Hospice. An MRI scan at Wellington Hospital indicated there is some hope and she will undergo radiation at Wellington and Christchurch Hospitals in the coming months.

Update about weaver family 6 March 2015

A Blenheim family reeling from a terminal cancer diagnosis may have to move out of their family home.

Yvonne and Donald Weaver are left with an annual income of $24,000 after Yvonne, the sole earner, fell ill with breast and bone cancer last year.

Yvonne said being in her home of 24 years helped her to relax and gave her a sense of belonging.

"I can sit in the little chair under the tree and I can listen to the birds and the crickets and feel the sun and the wind on my skin. It feels like heaven," she said.

"At sunset you can see the light change. It's just wonderful."

But the couple are struggling to make ends meet on their limited income and it is possible they might have to sell the home where they raised their 17-year-old daughter and 19-year-old son.

Yvonne, 52, was an early childhood teacher before her diagnosis, while Donald, 75, is retired.

Family friend Corey Broughton has stepped in to help with the family's day-to-day costs by setting up a bank account and Give A Little fundraising page for the family.

He became friends with Donald and Swiss-born Yvonne while coaching their son's soccer team.

"She's very community-minded," Broughton said.

"She was always at the soccer field with a cow bell. In some form [the fundraiser] is like pay back." Yvonne worked at St Mary's Preschool before she was diagnosed with cancer in July last year.

She had been feeling unwell for some time and had lost weight, but it was not until she was taken to Wairau Hospital, in Blenheim, by ambulance that she realised something was seriously wrong.

The support from hospital staff, hospice workers and the community had been amazing, Yvonne said.

"Without all that support from the community I don't think I would be where I am. I feel like I've been carried on wings."

Well-wishers had banded together to buy a discounted double adjustable hospital bed from Harvey Norman, while St Mary's Preschool children had made her cards and drawings.

Her journey through cancer had taught her not to sweat the small things, Yvonne said.

"I have to say it's so good to be alive.

"To live every day is a gift."

To donate: The Miracle Account, ANZ, 060577 0192553 12. Or visit the Give a Little website: givealittle.co.nz/cause/weaver.

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