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Help Tawhai and whānau to achieve his bucket list!

  • Update 8/7/2026

      8 February 2026
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    We are Day 11 into our journey, most days have been pretty rough with Tawhai needing blood products, platelets, immunoglobulins, potassium and calcium either everyday or every 2nd day

    He has been in extreme pain, which has been very hard to watch, but thankfully they have managed to find a bit of a balance, enough for him to be as normal as he can. We have celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary, and Tawhai turning 37 so far!

    There have been some developments from a CT scan which have been quite scary for us. They have found new lesions on the spine that are getting dangerously close to disrupting the spinal cord. This they intend to try to shrink immediately with radiation therapy. There has also been lesions found on the right side of Tawhais skull, which are going to be targeted with chemotherapy. We are awaiting PET scan results, another MRI and Xray of his jaw as he has lost feeling in it, which may be connected to the skull lesions. We are a little nervous of what next week may bring, it can all get real very quickly. What we are so grateful for is the chance to try and get these combined lesions under control. We have the most amazing team of doctors and nurses and are very hopeful for a positive outcome ❤️

    Being away from our children brings tears over the course of each day, but we are happy they are safe, stable and able to have normality. We are very blessed to have our sister. Not many people could drop everything and move their life to help.

    Thank you 😘

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  • Doing everything we can!

      3 February 2026
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    We have taken the last opportunity we have been given with both hands, and sadly have had to leave the country, leave our babies and life behind. Tawhai and I are together and our tamariki have stayed home. It is so very hard to be split up, but reality is this is the last chance we may have to try and make a difference. Our tamariki know it wont be forever, and we will do our best to be home as soon as we can.

    As we come into the last week of our give a little, we want to say a last big THANK-YOU to everyone who has helped get us here today. We spent our 7th wedding anniversary in hospital together yesterday ( our 4th all together in hospital) and there is no where else id rather be!

    We've got this! And I am not ready to stop fighting for my husbands life!

    Please if you are able to share our page one last time, we would truly appreciate it! We are away for a long haul with all the responsibilities still to be taken care of back home, every single dollar helps!

    Keep us in your prayers! We still have a lot to come up against, but we are positive it will all be for the best!

    Ngā mihi

    Tawhai & Lani Reti

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  • 2 weeks to go!

      23 January 2026
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    A few updates for us as we start getting ready to kick back into reality.

    I have decided along with my amazing team at Paroa School that I will not return to mahi this term as we have lots to focus on with Tawhais health.

    There is an opportunity in the mix, one that I ask you all to cross your fingers and toes for! I am unable to elaborate too much on this as it may jeopardize the progress, just know I am still in a massive fight for my husbands life and after a bit of a self love break over these holidays, I am recharged and ready to take it all on.

    We are forever grateful for those who continue to fight with us, and continue to pray everyday for the positive outcome needed to keep Tawhai with us for longer than a few "months" as explained to us in our last appointment.

    Tawhai had a really rough few weeks being admitted for severe pneumonia and sepsis needing 6 blood transfusions and platelets recently, which has been a very scary time for us all. But he truly is such a fighter, with lots of life in him to live yet!

    In saying that, we have just under 2 weeks left of our give a little page to run, so I am sharing again as we still need all the help we can get.

    If you have time to re share again for us, we truly appreciate it!

    Please keep us all in your thoughts, we are going to need it!

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  • Update 1st December 2025

      1 December 2025
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    Our latest PET scan has brought news we weren't expecting. Tawhais cancer has moved into his spine, ribs and he is having severe unexplainable pain. With the ineligibility for Dara, and the expectation of maybe only recieving help for a further 12 months we have now decided not to venture to Australia. Pomalidomide is not working as the progression of the Cancer in his spine has happened after starting on Pomalidomide. We have accepted that Australia is not for us. We do not want to move our family, for Tawhai to possibly not respond to further medication in a different country. Our focus now is to keep Tawhai comfortable and continue to spend meaningful time together. Money raised so far has been used towards this, we will be taking a family trip to Queenstown later in the month. I ( Lani, Tawhais wife ) have finished up at work to take care of him, so this will contribute to our everyday financial needs. This is not the outcome we were hoping for, but quality over quantity is our main goal now. We are tremendously grateful for every one that has helped us on this journey. Please continue to pray for us 🙏 ❤️

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  • Tahu News Interview

      28 October 2025

    Sharing our recent interview with Tahu News

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  • Another update

      28 October 2025
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    Tawhai has slowly being recovering after his recent radiation treatment. The overachiever award definitely goes to him! As only 1/100 people recieve internal burns and extreme inflammation after radiation which causes extreme pain. It has taken awhile to find the right combination of medication to remedy this, but I finally feel like we are on the better side of it now!

    We are in a bit of a limbo situation at the moment which is quite unsettling and a little disheartening all at once. As Tawhai is no longer able to recieve Dara in Australia we are now exploring the possible options for the next step.

    Whether this still means we relocate to Australia or stay here in NZ with the possibility of applying for compassionate process, we still dont know which is going to give the best outcome as Australia does have other treatment.

    The tricky part is finding what he is

    1- actually eligible for

    2- if medicare covers them

    3- What chance will these treatments actually give him

    4- Whether the longevity outweighs the time and hard times away from our family and support

    Its been a long time of very hard conversations, alongside the guilt he feels for having to uproot our lives. We continue to remind him our lives mean the most with him in it and we as his whānau will do whatever we can to live with him as long as possible!

    We are so grateful to all the generous people supporting us, but we still have a long ways to go!

    We are staying as positive as ever 💚💚💚💚💚

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  • One year of Daratumumab

      21 September 2025

    So many changes have happened so quickly, We are devastated in having to think about leaving our home, our community, my job, shifting our children and removing them from their sports teams, kapa haka groups etc... We are now fundraising to purchase Daratumumab here in NZ. We are uncertain how Tawhai would be traveling and if anything happened to him in another country it would be very tough. $120,000 would cover 1 year of Daratumumab and give us time to plan for the future.

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  • Update for Tawhai

      17 September 2025
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    Yesterday our radio interview aired on RNZ, and Tawhai was mentioned in Parliament. Slowly but surely we are starting to be heard

    Tawhais recent PET scan came with mixed emotions. The multiple myeloma has spread into both of his arms now, both femur bones, and in his pelvis and tailbone. It also showed an 8mm tumour in his right kidney, and 2 in his lungs.

    He will be heading to Christchurch hospital on the 25th of September for 5-7 days radiation treatment and further tests to decide how to proceed with treatment.

    Australia plans will need to be on hold until we find out what next steps we need to take.

    Tawhai is nearing the end of his first 28 day cycle of Pomalidomide and for the most part seems to be tolerating it without to many side effects which has been great to see. He still has severe pain in his right arm where lesions are restricting the blood flow, sleepless nights are very consistent.

    On a brighter note our children competed in our local Kapa Haka competition this week and both my Kapa Haka rōopu Te Kura Tuatahi O Pāroa and our eldest daughters rōopu Te Kura Tuarua O Māwhera won the Junior and Senior divisions. He managed to attend both performances over the duration of the day, and our children were so happy to have him watch! He also gifted 7 carved pounamu for some akonga to wear for the big show. It was beautiful to witness such an extraordinary experience for our children. We truly hope we can find a way to keep our children immersed in their culture

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  • New journey

      31 August 2025
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    Kia ora everyone, our latest hospital stint has provided some frustrating yet much needed information. Tawhai is now on Pomalidomide, the last drug available here in NZ. Although from the way his body handled lenolidomide and the myeloma still progressing through that treatment, his haemotologist could only projected that this drug may work for 6-12 months before another relapse. We now have no choice but to move to Australia as soon as possible. Obviously this is not what we expected to be using this putea for, but we have to get him to Australia to be able to recieve Dara as soon as possible. Moving our whole life again is very disheartening, especially because we have as of last year just bought our forever home we now have to leave. There are a mixture of emotions, up rooting our children again after growing so much in their schooling and life on the West Coast is heart breaking. But weve had a bit of a chat and the kids and I are all adamant that doing the right thing for Dad is the most important thing We will still continue to petition and push for this to become funded so we are able to return home as soon as we can.

    Thank you all so much for the incredible support, we now start the phase of transferring to Australia and beginning again ❤️

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