For Henry Hill School, in Napier, a day of crazy hair is also a chance to remember children who have been part of its school community and faced childhood cancer.<\/p>\n
The school got an early start on Wig Wednesday this year, holding its Wacky Wednesday fundraiser on September 2 to raise money for Child Cancer Foundation during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.<\/p>\n
Among the children remembered by the school was\u00a0Tyler Gray, who died from cancer just three weeks before his 12th birthday in September, 2024.<\/p>\n
Tyler’s younger sister Sadie, 7, is still a pupil at Henry Hill, keeping a close connection between the family and the school.<\/p>\n
Tyler was diagnosed with osteosarcoma bone cancer in September, 2021. Doctors also found tiny secondary cancer nodules in his lungs, some no bigger than grains of salt.<\/p>\n
His mum, Kelly Hill, remembers the family travelling from their home in Onekawa, Napier, to Starship Children’s Hospital in Auckland during the COVID-19 lockdown for his treatment.<\/p>\n
Tyler underwent chemotherapy, surgery to amputate his leg and further chemotherapy. He eventually had 14 months in remission, but the cancer in his lungs returned.<\/p>\n
\u201cNone of us knew what we were doing,\u201d Kelly says.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don’t know what questions to ask, you don’t know what help is available and you definitely don’t know how to navigate it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In June, 2024, doctors told the family Tyler’s cancer was incurable.<\/p>\n
He was given about nine months to live, but he only lived another three. He\u00a0died on September\u00a06,\u00a02024, just shy of his 12th birthday.<\/p>\n
This Father\u2019s Day was the two-year anniversary of his death;\u00a0he would have been only a few weeks away from turning 14.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was always happy. It took a lot for Tyler to tell us he was in pain,\u201d Kelly says.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople didn’t always know he was sick because he always had that smile on his face.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Kelly, the support of Child Cancer Foundation and organisations like Ronald McDonald House, helped the family navigate not just Tyler’s treatment, but the practical and emotional impact of having a child with cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving the family support co-ordinators there helped us so much. We could talk to them, ask questions and just have someone who understood what we were going through.\u201d<\/p>\n
The foundation provided petrol vouchers, practical support and grief counselling, which Kelly says made a significant difference, particularly as the family travelled repeatedly between Napier and Auckland.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose petrol vouchers made such a difference. And they were there for us as a family too, including helping us navigate our relationship as a couple and the grief that came afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tyler’s experience has also inspired Kelly to study to become a hospital play specialist.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is my motivation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to be able to give other children some of what Tyler experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n
Child Cancer Foundation chief executive\u00a0 Monica Briggs said\u00a0schools played an important role in helping children and families feel supported.<\/p>\n
\u201cChildhood cancer affects an entire family and an entire community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen a school comes together to support a child and their wh\u0101nau, that support can mean so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Henry Hill, the Wacky Wednesday fundraiser was both a celebration and a tribute.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s really special that the school still remembers Tyler, and that Sadie is still there,\u201d Kelly said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTyler will always be part of that school and part of our family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wig Wednesday was held on September 16, but donations and fundraising continue throughout September, Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.<\/p>\n
To support families facing childhood cancer, donate any amount through wigwednesday.org.nz or text WIG to 3457 to donate $3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Henry Hill School, in Napier, a day of crazy hair is also a chance to remember children…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-605548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605548","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=605548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}