From graduation to hospital gown...

September 2018, we were planning my brother, Whitinga’s graduation party. He was finally going to be a primary teacher.

He was excited to make a positive change in the world and teaching was the way he was going to do it.

His two sons Heremia and Waaka watched on as their hero, their Dad, pushed through his last semester. He wanted his boys to see that there isn’t anything that they can not do if they put their mind to it.

He was the first person in our family to go to university and we were all cheering him on as he reached the finish line.

He started to get tired, began to lose weight, and was struggling to eat. He thought it was stress and that it would pass. But then after spending a week in the hospital my brother was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.

The floor crumbled beneath our feet as we heard the news. The future didn't seem so certain any more.

But in this chaos, there is also clarity. We know that my brother has a big fight on his hands. We want him to know that we will do all that we can to ease the financial burden that comes with cancer and provide in any way we can for his boys.