Celebrating 10 years as a stroke survivor – Candice and the Great Wall of China 2025

In March of 2015 Candice Donner suffered a massive stroke and brain bleed. She was 35 years old. She became instantly paralysed on the left side of her body. After 4 months as an inpatient learning to walk and look after herself again, she was discharged home. The next blow came in November of 2015 when her ex-husband left and Candice became a single parent to her two boys, at the time Oscar was just 2 and Reilly was 16. The boys are now 11 and 25.

Since gaining her Bachelor of Community Health at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology in Tauranga and returning to the workforce in 2019, Candice has worked in the Te Puke community in kaupapa Māori health providers. In her current role as accessibility coordinator at Poutiri Wellness Centre she now supports whānau who live with disability or chronic illness.

Since the stroke changed her life in 2015, Candice has achieved many goals post stroke, in 2023 achieving her home ownership goal toward the end of that year, purchasing their home in Ōpōtiki where they now live. She is still living with severe disability and no function of her left arm, but that does not stop her from living a full and enjoyable life.

2025 is the 10-year anniversary of her stroke and Candice wants to celebrate this milestone by joining a trek of the Great Wall of China with Stroke Aotearoa NZ.

The donations from this page will go towards the costs of the trip, with fundraising for Stroke Aotearoa NZ done separately through their Grassroots pages.