A deep breath. Chin up. A smile \u2013 forced, practised.<\/p>\n
The pair step inside.<\/p>\n
Three generations fill the room but it is the youngest who is being lost. Paige Suisted is a fighter \u2013 but not all battles can be won.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not airing it to get sympathy. I\u2019m airing it to show people what it\u2019s like.” Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n
The Herald first met Paige in late 2024 and she was a surprise.<\/p>\n
The then 26\u2011year\u2011old Waikato woman was tall, striking, brash and a bit pissed off.<\/p>\n
She had been lumbered with a terminal brain cancer diagnosis, which was reason enough for anger, but Paige was clear about one thing \u2013 the message she wanted to share wasn\u2019t simply that she had cancer.<\/p>\n
She believed her experience should serve a purpose and decided to tell her story so others might better understand what lay ahead and how to live with it.<\/p>\n
As the interview progressed, the cameras rolled and Paige filled the lens. Mum Rachel and grandmother Sheryl sat quietly to one side, out of view, listening.<\/p>\n
Tears ran down Rachel\u2019s face. They weren\u2019t just from sadness but pride, as Paige spoke about medical missteps, a delayed diagnosis and how anyone needs to fight to be heard in the medical system.<\/p>\n
She talked about the loss of movement in her arm and leg, the grind of day\u2011to\u2011day radiation treatment and chemotherapy and the unfortunate loss of her long, dark hair.<\/p>\n
And then there was the part Paige wanted people to remember most \u2013 her plan to make memories.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s my story. No matter what, this is what I\u2019m going through,\u201d Paige told the Herald.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not airing it to get sympathy. I\u2019m airing it to show people what it\u2019s like.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope they can see that it\u2019s not the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paige\u2019s positive attitude had made the family \u2013 her mum, dad and two siblings, plus her grandparents \u2013 more resilient and stronger, Rachel explained at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer strength rubs off not just on me. It rubs off on everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cPaige said to me, \u2018The world\u2019s toughest battles go to the world\u2019s toughest soldiers\u2019. She\u2019s one of the world\u2019s toughest soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n
She promised her daughter that \u201cshe will never do this on her own\u201d.<\/p>\n
But washing through Rachel\u2019s tears of pride was fear as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t bury my daughter,\u201d she would tell the Herald. \u201cI can\u2019t do that. I don\u2019t want to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paige Suisted is cared for by\u00a0grandmother Sheryl (left) and mother Rachel Raven in Hospice Waikato. Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n
At Hospice Waikato, Rachel and Sheryl, mother and grandmother, move quietly around Paige\u2019s chair, cooing softly, brushing her hair back, placing kisses on her forehead.<\/p>\n
Paige\u2019s eyes open from time to time. Recognition of the people surrounding her comes sparingly.<\/p>\n
Less than a month earlier, she had been still active and out in the world. In the weeks since, the cancer has been aggressively unforgiving.<\/p>\n
It makes the past year and what Paige chose to do with it impressive.<\/p>\n
Her colourful social media tells the story of a bucket list with many ticks \u2013 European travel and the long\u2011held dream of visiting Paris, concerts, car racing, balloon rides and much more. Threaded through it all are special family moments.<\/p>\n
Paige Suisted ticked many items off her bucket list in the past year.<\/p>\n
Paige became an ambassador for the Cancer Society Daffodil Day 2025 campaign, telling her story to ever more people through videos, words and public appearances.<\/p>\n
Her messages were always honest and unfiltered.<\/p>\n
The ongoing treatments and therapy were intense, her hair continued to fall out, and life was often taxing.<\/p>\n
Yet, against expectations, there was great news in late 2025. Scans showed the brain tumour had diminished to the point it could no longer be detected.<\/p>\n
Paige\u2019s oncologist could not explain why. He was \u201ccompletely dumbfounded\u201d, Rachel said.<\/p>\n
The Herald got in touch in early February for a follow-up.<\/p>\n
Paige was an ambassador for the Cancer Society Daffodil Day 2025 campaign. Photo \/ Tim Pierce \/ The Beards<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were expecting a good news story, weren\u2019t you?\u201d Paige said at the end of the interview. \u201cSorry about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the previous hour, sitting beside her mother, Paige had spoken plainly about what cancer had already taken from her \u2013 mobility, independence and a sense of self \u2013 told with the familiar raw honesty.<\/p>\n
A recent head knock and concussion \u2013 difficult for anyone but much tougher for someone with brain cancer \u2013 meant she was struggling to find words. Rachel would step in to help.<\/p>\n
The tumour had indeed gone, surprising numerous medical specialists.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe question we had was, if that\u2019s the case, is she cancer-free? And he [Paige\u2019s oncologist] said, \u2018No, you still have stage four terminal brain cancer\u2019,\u201d Rachel explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s still cancer fragments in her brain, and when they get angry, then they form into a tumour,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, at the moment, the tumour is blasted but the fragments are all still there.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, it was really hard to hear that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even with the cancer diminished to the point it could no longer be detected, it still left Paige with the physical impairment \u2013 the loss of movement in an arm and weakness in her leg on one side of her body.<\/p>\n
Despite daily gym sessions, her balance remained unreliable and her strength uneven. Simple tasks that once required no thought \u2013 driving, doing her hair, walking on sand, carrying objects \u2013 demanded effort and time or were even impossible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know people are on chemo or have cancer and we\u2019re all the same \u2013 we\u2019re all going through major challenges and troubles with everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019ve never seen anyone who doesn\u2019t have a working hand and a working leg. So, I get upset because I\u2019m like, \u2018Why did it have to be me?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The worst part was the stares. For a young woman who prided herself on her appearance, the wobbly \u201cstroke\u201d walk to get a coffee near her home was excruciating.<\/p>\n
\u201cI put my head down, but I can see people are looking and it makes me upset.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paige Suisted, pictured in 2024. Her brain tumour left her with lasting impairment to her arm and leg. Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n
Alongside the physical toll was the constant effort of trying to understand what external support existed. Much of it had to be uncovered along the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t tell you unless you figure it out,\u201d Rachel said.<\/p>\n
Support came in pieces, learning about them in chance conversations with other patients or by persistent questioning.<\/p>\n
For Paige and her mum, it meant navigating treatment and services \u2013 such as in-home aid, wig funding and getting a disability transport card \u2013 without a single point of information to explain what was available or how to access them.<\/p>\n
Their talk was of fighting once more – the constant, exhausting fight to be noticed and heard within the maze of cancer care.<\/p>\n
Exhausting … and depressing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to be honest and tell you this,\u201d Paige said before twisting on the sofa to look at Rachel, \u201cAnd mum\u2019s probably gonna get upset.<\/p>\n
\u201cI made a thing when I was asleep with my Pepper [Paige\u2019s cat], and I actually said, \u2018I\u2019d rather this cancer and me be out now\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to have to deal with it \u2013 I\u2019m kind of over it. Like, I want to be out because what the f*** am I doing?<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is hard not being able to do what I used to do, and I don\u2019t want to get to another year and another year and another year being like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paige Suisted’s mum, Rachel Raven (right), has supported her daughter throughout her cancer journey. Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n
Paige doesn\u2019t want to die. Rachel knows that.<\/p>\n
Soon after the February interview, the worst news was delivered. Those cancer fragments had become angry, and the tumour was back with vengeance.<\/p>\n
The family headed to the Gold Coast, a favourite place for Paige, making final memories.<\/p>\n
One night near the end of the trip, when it had become obvious the cancer was wreaking havoc, Paige did not want to sleep.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was just laying there \u2026 and she just simply said, \u2018I\u2019m just too scared to go to sleep because I know I\u2019m going to die\u2019,\u201d Rachel said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was scared, really scared.\u201d<\/p>\n
After returning from Australia, Paige was placed in hospice care, and that\u2019s where Rachel spoke to the Herald last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got this really stupid dance and I call it my chicken dance. And that\u2019s my little thing I do daily to try and get a spark out of Paige and it would always make her laugh.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the last two weeks my chicken dance hasn\u2019t been doing anything unfortunately, so that kind of breaks my heart \u2026 and I miss that.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I miss her. She\u2019s not even gone and I miss her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel said she was finishing her daughter\u2019s story because that\u2019s what Paige would wish for.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s always wanted people to be aware of what\u2019s going on for her, and she\u2019s always been that sort of person who wants to make sure she can do something to help somebody else out or for someone else to understand.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a wide-ranging chat covering the recent prognosis, the tiring speed of decline and reiterating the need to speak out and ask questions of the medical fraternity, Rachel summed up what was important.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe journey is exhausting, heartbreaking, and extremely emotional.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut be surrounded with those that matter and those that care.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t ever worry about what anyone else thinks. Live life to the fullest and make those memories last a lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paige would approve.<\/p>\n
Mike Scott is an award-winning visual journalist with more than two decades of experience telling stories across multiple media platforms.<\/p>\n