My story.

At the beginning of 2005 everything looked rosy. I loved life and my gorgeous kiddies, Conor and Kenzie. Then mate pukupuku (cancer) took over.

Kenzie was just 2 when she was diagnosed with paraspinal bone cancer which left her paralysed and fighting for her life. Within a few months I was diagnosed with mate ūtaetae (breast cancer), my marriage broke up and I was living thousands of miles away from whānau in Ireland.

Coping with mate pukupuku (cancer) is one thing. Coping with mate pukupuku (cancer) while your pēpē (baby) battles it is another. I thought life couldn't get any worse but sadly, Kenzie died on the 29th of December 2005.

To deal with my grief, I turned to physical challenges and a determination to grasp life in both hands. Never a natural athlete, I ran my first marathon a year after completing my cancer treatment, overcame my fear of swimming in deep water and completed an Ocean Swim Series, competed in triathlons and embarked on an Iron Man event until a hereditary heart condition reared its ugly head.

This still didn’t stop me.

Through the tragedy and tears, pain and loss, I became a survivor, graduate, and charity founder.

My challenges became lessons. A way of life showing me how defying adversity can open the door for human potential through determination, persistence, resiliency, self-motivation, leadership, empathy, and compassion. I channelled these lessons into my life’s work, determined to give for good, including founding the charity Kenzie’s Gift and through my talks – and now, my book.

It's now spring 2021. 16 years on from being diagnosed with stage 3 mate ūtaetae (breast cancer). 15 years on from losing my gorgeous three-year-old daughter Kenzie to bone cancer. Six years on from being diagnosed with a malfunctioning heart. One year on from being diagnosed with Parkinson’s. One week on from being told I need a heart transplant.

So I guess it’s really time to finish my book.