A huge thank you from Shaun
26 November 2023
Dear friends, family and outdoors friends who I am yet to meet,
I have read every message and seen your incredible generosity. It is so humbling
and uplifting. I am especially grateful for all of your kind words of
encouragement, support and love.
It is spring and the riroriro (grey warbler) are trilling, which sounds like a song
of hope. Your messages of support are like the lyrics to the warblers’ song.
I smiled at your messages of outdoor adventures and getting addicted to
tramping. Being able to write about tramping and the backcountry has been a
huge privilege and I am truly touched that so many of you have appreciated my
writing.
I had felt uncertain about embarking on Give-a-Little, feeling others are more in
need, but thanks to you all, this has been such a positive journey for our family.
Your support has given me strength and encouraged me to continue my writing.
It has also given us choices and the possibility to pursue health treatments
outside of the public system.
While I am still recovering from radiation and have ongoing chemotherapy over
the next few months, I am well enough to walk each day and am swimming in the
bracing Wellington ocean. I even managed to bag a couple of huts in the
Richmond Range recently and now have just one more to visit.
Your support has made an incredible difference to our family in this time of need
and all I can say is the most heartfelt thanks to you all.
Ngā mihi nui
Shaun and the Stanton-Barnett family