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48 HOUR RUN FOR OTIS

  • All gas no brakes

      11 November 2022
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    Kicked off the 4x4x48 challenge at 12pm today, with Otis, his family and my family all together at mine sending me off for the first run! It feels good to finally get this bad boy started, after weeks of hard slog and training it's refreshing to actually get into it. I couldn't of picked a better send off, with Otis and all the whanau together.

    It's unreal that we're almost at $8,000 – I'm feeling confident that we can get more eyeballs on Otis' rare cancer condition and smash the $10,000 mark to help cover his surgery costs to save his life. But the works not done, so please keep spreading the word and sharing the Givealittle to your rich aunties and uncles lol

    So far, the body is feeling good as I'm typing (only after two runs)... I'll see how we feel after a night full of running tonight and the weather packing in. Massive shout out to everyone who's joining/joined in for a run or is sharing this kaupapa – legends. If you want to follow the journey closer, best bet would be to follow on Instagram or my Strava account. The biggest buzz so far has been the creator of the 4x4x48 challenge, the GOAT David Goggins replying to one of my Insta stories. Damn that got me so fired up!

    And a cheeky shout out to my partner Bronagh who's biking alongside and keeping me sorted with stretches and nutrition – you're a real one!!! Team effort.

    Chur

    Noa

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    • 12/11/2022 by Bernard Warmington

      Great effort Noa, I enjoyed the run this morning and it was a nice excuse for a family and friends get together. Best wishes to Otis for beating this thing!

  • NZ health system is a joke. We need your support now more than ever.

      2 November 2022
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    Kia ora team, a quick update from me about the 4x4x48 and an update from Otis' family on their progress to raise $283,000 for the surgery to save his life.

    In terms of the 4x4x48, we've smashed out the target of $5,000 which is out the gate! The support so far for Otis has been unreal and it's been humbling seeing more awareness raised for Otis' rare cancer each week and people all rallying around to support. If you've donated, shared the Givealittle or spread the word, YOU HAVE MY RESPECT and GRATITUDE. LEGENDS. In terms of training, I've been working my ass off week in week out racking up the km's and feel ready to give this beast of a challenge a rumble. Fizzing for it!!

    I'll be starting the run on Friday 11 November at 12pm and running 6.4km every four hours for 48 hours straight. I'll finish the run on Sunday 13 November at 8am, clocking up over 77kms. If you want to come along or support, flick me a message. All runs will be in Plim/Mana.

    I thought I would share a quote from Otis that he shared on a radio interview today to put his battle with cancer into perspective. Remember, this is coming from a 16 year old.

    "I have so much I want to do. I'm really not ready to die. That's how I've always felt about it, I've never thought about giving up once and I never will."

    I'm going to share directly his parents' updates on their next steps for raising the $283,000 to save their boys life below. The NZ health system is a joke, so we need the support of the people to come together more than anything right now. Update below:

    "We have been denied surgery here in New Zealand because they’re saying they don’t think it’ll be life saving because the surgery will only remove the tumours In Otis abdomen and the dormant ones in his chest might come back. Might??? We want to take the chance as it MIGHT not come back so let’s just get what we can out right? What parent wouldn’t take that chance?

    Luckily enough some experienced surgeons in Sydney are willing to do the surgery after seeing Otis last scans. But this comes at a cost which we have to pay in full in advance.

    The cost to save our sons life is $283,000 and that’s just his hospital stay. We will still have to pay for our flights, insurance, accomodation for 2 months as he’ll be in hospital for 35 days and then will need to recover before flying home. And of course keep our home in NZ. So we’re asking for one last push towards of givealittle page. Please share share share. We’ll try for funding through the ministry of health but our oncologist isn’t being overly helpful and we would t know where to start. So if anyone knows about this please let me know.

    The picture below is of Otis and his band in Auckland where a fan wanted to take a pic ❤️

    Please help us get to Sydney xxx we’ve got this far and we just need one more push!

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  • Meeting Otis

      8 October 2022
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    Last night I met Otis for the first time! His parents, Rachel and Tyson invited me and my partner over for dinner to talk about the '4x4x48' fundraiser and to meet with him in person.

    I was blown away by this kid. His confidence and bravery, to talk about the entire journey from cancer diagnosis to now was inspirational. His family described how one of the first doctors, when discovering Otis' rare diagnosis of cancer, essentially just gave up on him as the statistics were so dire "I recommend you go bungy jumping or go explore the country," was his words of advice. Otis said that sometimes it's hard to believe that this is all happening to him, he used to not like going to school but now he misses it more than anything. It's funny what you miss when things are taken away from you. But his mindset is set in concrete, as well as his family's, we all have no doubt that Otis will keep being an outlier and win this battle against cancer. They're currently awaiting his next scans to see if his tumours are shrinking so they can head over to Sydney for his life saving surgery.

    As we sat and chatted, he jammed out on his guitars. He's playing at a festival in Auckland soon with his band 'Bleeding Star' (check them out on Spotify they're sick) and opening a gig for Che Fu too.

    As for the run, this has fired me up more than anything. I'm training pretty much daily and focussing on clocking up some km's in my legs. I've been massively blown away by the support, from people donating, showing the love, spreading the word and getting in touch to run a leg or two on race day. Whatever pain I'll go through in this challenge, doesn't even touch the surface to what Otis has been enduring. Almost $5k donated so far, but I reckon we can go further and smash the target out of the park for Otis.

    Massive shout out to Tyson and Rachel too, some of the strongest people I know.

    Chur! Donate, spread the word or get in touch. Get up for Otis!

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