{"id":374482,"date":"2026-04-11T11:57:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T11:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/374482\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T11:57:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T11:57:07","slug":"on-the-up-fund-for-lung-disease-patients-continues-whangarei-womans-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/374482\/","title":{"rendered":"On The Up: Fund for lung disease patients continues Whang\u0101rei woman\u2019s legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite much of her short years spent in hospital, she had a long list of achievements, including graduating with a degree in M\u0101ori Studies, competing in Miss Aotearoa<\/a> and Miss New Zealand beauty pageants, campaigning for youth involvement in local government, writing a book for tamariki in hospital and setting up the Northland Bronchiectasis Support Group<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2014, when Esther-Jordan Muriwai was presented with a Bravery Award<\/a> in the Asthma Foundation Achievers\u2019 Awards by then-Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae, she cheekily asked him to be patron of the national foundation she intended to start.<\/p>\n

She died only months later, with her parents, Ana Sadlier and Camron Muriwai, supporters and Mateparae officially launching the Bronchiectasis Foundation<\/a> in Whang\u0101rei on April 7, 2015.<\/p>\n

Since then, the foundation helped raise awareness of bronchiectasis, which disproportionately affected M\u0101ori, Pasifika and those living in the most deprived areas, according to the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ.<\/p>\n

Camron Muriwai said his daughter had courage and directness that even Mateparae could not ignore.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see this tiny girl with arms like toothpicks but there is something about her presence, when she starts to articulate, her inner presence comes out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MembersMembers of the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ and Bronchiectasis Foundation cheer the new fund in honour of Esther-Jordan Muriwai including (from left) Sir John Clarke, John Knight, Camron Muriwai, Ana Sadlier (with photo), Letitia Harding and Professor Cass Byrnes.<\/p>\n

The next step for the Bronchiectasis Foundation was about ensuring longevity for Esther-Jordan Muriwai\u2019s vision, including the fund bearing her name in perpetuity, Camron Muriwai said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something Esther would be proud of: it\u2019s the simplest support to ensure that a family can travel well or have a place to lay their head down when they get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Camron Muriwai said that working with the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ<\/a> was a natural fit, as it supported his daughter when she was unwell. He would continue to be involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe would be proud. We\u2019re proud and very, very grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bronchiectasis remained one of the most serious respiratory conditions affecting children in New Zealand, said Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ chief executive Letitia Harding.<\/p>\n

Each year, about 70 children were diagnosed with the disease and 140 Kiwis died from it \u2013 nearly three each week, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Bronchiectasis Foundation played an important role in raising awareness of the disease and supporting the thousands of families who are affected by it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are honoured to carry that work forward and build on the legacy Esther-Jordan and her wh\u0101nau created.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those wanting to donate to the fund can go to asthmafoundation.org.nz<\/a> and click the \u201cdonate\u201d button.<\/p>\n

Denise Piper is a news reporter<\/a> for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite much of her short years spent in hospital, she had a long list of achievements, including graduating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13038,41110,1558,9218,13982,36088,6659,6179,7191,5988,2082,295,7568,1743,6176,64955,111,43,139,69,90,1597,6293,223,810,1869,1354,5816,4741],"class_list":{"0":"post-374482","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-advocate","9":"tag-affected","10":"tag-been","11":"tag-before","12":"tag-continues","13":"tag-courageous","14":"tag-deadly","15":"tag-died","16":"tag-disease","17":"tag-families","18":"tag-for","19":"tag-fund","20":"tag-honour","21":"tag-launched","22":"tag-legacy","23":"tag-lung","24":"tag-new-zealand","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-newzealand","27":"tag-nz","28":"tag-on","29":"tag-patient","30":"tag-patients","31":"tag-the","32":"tag-up","33":"tag-whangrei","34":"tag-woman","35":"tag-womans","36":"tag-young"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}