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Help Amy meet her birth family before it is too late

  • A final update

      4 March 2018
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    Hi everyone,

    Dan here - Amy's brother.

    I'm writing to let you know that Amy passed away peacefully on Friday morning, surrounded by family. She had been beaten up pretty badly by the disease by this stage and she was ready to go.

    The whole family will always be grateful to you for supporting her dream to reunite with her birth-siblings last year. You will be thrilled to know that those relationships remain strong between them and the New Zealand family and we have no intention of letting them go now.

    Your gift has had a lasting impact on all of us and we are profoundly thankful.

    Arohanui,

    DS

    (PS, we don't have access to Amy's Gmail account so if you want to send messages of support to the family, please send them to ted.slevin@xtra.co.nz or dan@danslevin.com and we will share them with the rest of the family.)

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  • Thank you for helping make the uniting of the family a wonderful success

      27 June 2017
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    Hi Dan here again, Amy's brother.

    A couple of weeks have passed and Simon and Mel have been farewelled and we are left with the wonderful memories that your generosity helped to create. Amy threw a great party so all her friends, neighbours, relations and colleagues could get together to celebrate her life and their relationship.

    You can see and read more about the event at this Stuff article here:

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/93549667/wellington-woman-with-terminal-cancers-last-wish-to-connect-with-birth-family-comes-true

    It was an amazing night.

    Amy would like to thank so many people and businesses who supported her and made the event possible: Zena and Nick at Ohariu Farm Wedding and Event Centre who brought lots of other people on board, Stiletto Studios in Johnsonville for the cake, the band Loose Jandal for the live music, Brides on Thorndon offered a very generous deal for the Amy's dress, We Do Photography provided a fun photobooth free, Table Flower florists provided vases for our friend Gill Willis's flowers, Hype Entertainment brought some amazing atmospheric uplighting, Hiremaster in Wellington gave us chair covers and bows for free and Christine Boucher took amazing photos that the family will treasure forever.

    Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, Amy can stay connected with Simon and Mel almost 24 hours a day and there already plans being made for them to return. Our family has truly grown in less than a heartbeat.

    So, thanks to all of you for helping make it happen.

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  • Simon and Mel have arrived!

      8 June 2017

    Hi Everyone

    Dan here, Amy's sister. Once again we want to thank everyone who has been so generous and supportive of our family.

    On Sunday, Simon, Amy's birth-brother, arrived in Wellington to meet Amy for the first time. With the permission of all the parties, here is a short video showing you how excited Amy was to meet Simon.

    She had been allowed out of hospital for the afternoon and had been sitting in her wheelchair waiting until the excitement took over - I haven't seen her run for months and months.

    Today, her sister Melanie also arrived and the family has been busy getting to know each other. Bringing all of these people together has been the best aspect of a sad situation but you can see from the video that your support has made Amy very happy.

    Once again, thank you.

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  • 1st Update

      2 May 2017

    Dan here, Amy's brother. Amy has concluded that she is not well enough to travel so your giving is going to be used to bring her half-brother Simon to New Zealand so he can meet Amy and his niece for the first time.

    As before, any funds raised over and above this target will go in to trust for Aroha's future.

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