The impact on families was felt long after someone died from prostate cancer, she said.
“Families are left trying to put their lives back together while carrying a loss that never truly goes away. The pain doesn’t necessarily get easier; you simply become stronger at carrying it.
“The hole they leave doesn’t get smaller; you learn how to live around it.”
Daniel was diagnosed with prostate cancer in August 2021.
He saw his doctor after seeing a friend’s social media post about prostate cancer encouraging people to get tested.
“What followed was devastating,” his widow said.
An aggressive form of prostate cancer had already spread to his bladder, hips and spine.
“Because it had been detected so late, treatment was focused on slowing the cancer and giving him as much time as possible with family and friends.
“The hardest part wasn’t Daniel’s fear of dying. It was the fear of not being able to keep living the life he loved, and the thought of leaving behind the people who loved him.”
Daniel Hazelwood died from prostate cancer on December 12, 2024.
Early detection gave men the best chance of successful treatment, she said.
After Daniel’s diagnosis, he became passionate about encouraging other men to get checked.
“Although we can’t change his outcome, we can continue the mission that meant so much to him.”
Blue Walk fundraiser for the Prostate Cancer Foundation
Hazelwood’s eldest daughter, Leigha, and the Rotorua Sunrise Rotary Club have organised a Blue Walk to raise money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation.
Blue September is the foundation’s annual awareness month.
Funds raised support the foundation’s vital services, including counselling, fitness and wellbeing programmes, partner and family support, education, advocacy and research.
Last year’s walk raised about $5000.
Leigha Hazelwood (right) at last year’s Blue Walk. She has helped to organise this year’s event. Photo / Lisa Quirk
The family-friendly walk is on September 29, starting at the Rotorua Lakefront’s Village Green at 5.30pm.
The 30-minute route will go past Rotorua Hospital and return to the Village Green via Eat Streat.
Registrations open from 4.30pm. The entry fee is $10 for adults and a gold coin donation for children.
“Dress in blue and join the walk, led by our local fire engine, with the brass band providing music along the route,” Shirley Hazelwood said.
Last year’s Blue Walk in Rotorua raised money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Photo / Lisa Quirk Photography
There will also be spot prizes and a sausage sizzle.
Shirley said every step helped spread awareness and started conversations that could save lives.
“If sharing Daniel’s story encourages even one man to make an appointment with his doctor, then we know we are making a difference.”
The walk was about more than remembering Daniel.
“It’s about giving other families the chance to keep their fathers, husbands, brothers, sons, and friends for longer. That’s why we walk.”
The Blue Walk in Rotorua in 2025. The event has been running annually since 2016. Photo / Lisa Quirk Photography
Heinz Fett has helped to organise Rotorua’s Blue Walk every year since its inception in 2016.
He and Daniel Hazelwood were also co-ordinators for the Rotorua prostate cancer support group.
“My whole thing is about awareness and [to] get guys to talk about it,” Fett told the Rotorua Daily Post.
He wants the Government to fund a national screening programme, similar to that for breast cancer.
He said the death rate for prostate cancer was higher than for breast cancer.
However, a prostate cancer diagnosis did not mean “it is the end of it”.
“That’s why early detection is really the key.”
People who cannot attend the Blue Walk can donate through the Rotorua Blue Walk fundraising page on the Blue September website.
Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.