{"id":609583,"date":"2026-09-23T21:20:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T21:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/609583\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T21:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T21:20:12","slug":"family-honours-sons-legacy-after-cancer-battle-and-tragic-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/609583\/","title":{"rendered":"Family honours son’s legacy after cancer battle and tragic death"},"content":{"rendered":"

A tiny West Otago town has raised more than $170,000 for the Child Cancer Foundation, inspired by a local family whose son battled cancer as a child. <\/p>\n

For more than a decade, the Tapanui community has rallied around the Davies family and their son Jock, who was diagnosed with leukaemia at nine years old. <\/p>\n

Jock overcame the disease after years of treatment but died last year after he was shot in a hunting accident<\/a> on Stewart Island.<\/p>\n

His parents Peter and Sarah Davies were now continuing the fundraising that began during his cancer battle \u2014 this time in his memory.<\/p>\n

Jock\u2019s cancer battle<\/p>\n

The family\u2019s connection with the Child Cancer Foundation began after Jock became unwell in 2013.<\/p>\n

“He\u2019d been feeling pretty crook and no energy, which wasn\u2019t like him,” dad Peter told Seven Sharp. <\/p>\n

A blood test led to Jock being taken to Invercargill before he was flown down to Christchurch for further treatment. <\/p>\n

He spent much of the following months there and remained on medication for around two years. <\/p>\n

\"Jock<\/p>\n

Jock Davies. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

“It was a long road, ” Peter recalled. <\/p>\n

The family received support from the Child Cancer Foundation throughout Jock\u2019s treatment, while the local community of Tapanui also rallied around them.<\/p>\n

Jock eventually overcame leukaemia and went on to study in Dunedin, where he pursued his love of sport and the outdoors and planned to become a teacher.<\/p>\n

But in July of last year, his life was tragically cut short after he was fatally shot while hunting<\/a> on Stewart Island. <\/p>\n

Peter said the family had been surrounded by support in the difficult year since.<\/p>\n

“We’ve been really lucky though. Lots of great friends, family, community once again around here. Yeah. Good people around us,” he said. <\/p>\n

The couple said Jock “loved life and people”, describing him as someone who was “a little bit unique and a little bit naughty”. <\/p>\n

“He wouldn\u2019t want us to be wallowing,” mum Sarah said.<\/p>\n

\"Sarah<\/p>\n

Sarah and Peter Davies. (Source: Seven Sharp)<\/p>\n

Fundraising in Jock\u2019s memory<\/p>\n

This year, the Child Cancer Foundation fundraising carried new significance for the Davies family.<\/p>\n

“The Child Cancer Foundation has always, since Jock was diagnosed, been a big part of our family,\u201d Sarah said.<\/p>\n

“So in memory of Jock, I think this year is just going to feel really special.”<\/p>\n

The family were encouraging people to get behind the cause that supported them through some of their most difficult years. <\/p>\n

“Instead of having that coffee today or tomorrow, donate that money to the Child Cancer Foundation,” Peter said.<\/p>\n

The wider Tapanui community \u2014 home to fewer than 1000 people \u2014 also continued to rally behind the fundraising effort.<\/p>\n

\"Students<\/p>\n

Students and staff at Blue Mountain College \u2014 where Peter and Sarah were longtime teachers \u2014 took park in Wig Wednesday. (Source: Seven Sharp)<\/p>\n

Students and staff at Blue Mountain College took park in Wig Wednesday, donning wigs and shaving their heads to raise money for the foundation.<\/p>\n

Peter and Sarah were longtime teachers at the school, where Jock and his older brothers George and Tom attended. <\/p>\n

“They\u2019ve been a great support of us as a family for a long time and just get in behind the day,” Peter said. “The whole community is giving back for us, helping us do that.” <\/p>\n

“It\u2019s very humbling actually,” Sarah added. <\/p>\n

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including two people rescued from the bottom of a cliff, how AI might kill us all, and the dramatic moment two military pilots eject from their plane. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A tiny West Otago town has raised more than $170,000 for the Child Cancer Foundation, inspired by a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1080,42,134,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-609583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-dunedin-otago","tag-headlines","tag-health","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609583","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=609583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}