In Loving Memory

My koro passed away suddenly after a short illness of asbestos cancer on the 22nd of January 2005. My koro was only given about a month to live. When I went to visit my koro in the hospital on the 18th December he was pale and skinny. My kuia and step-dad had to help my koro sit up in bed as he was very weak.

When I went back to Whakatane I sat down and wrote my koro a letter telling him I loved him and please don’t die.

My kuia told me that when koro read the letter he had tears coming down his face. It made me cry to see my koro in pain. Two weeks after Christmas I went back to Auckland and he was at home, I walked into the bedroom and there was my koro in bed looking uncomfortable and in so much pain.

In January a week before the long weekend my kuia rung and said I don’t think koro is going to make it to the long weekend and to come up to see him. We left Whakatane at 2:30pm and had only got halfway when we got the phone call from my step mum to say koro had passed away at 3:30pm.

I started crying as koro knew we were coming and couldn’t hang on anymore. When we got to the house my brother and I walked into the bedroom to say our goodbyes. It was hard for me as I was close to my Tipuna. I held back the tears, told my koro I loved him and left the room.

The funeral was sad and hard on myself, the whanau and especially my kuia.I got up and did a speech and my aunty had to come and help me as the tears kept falling. I will always love my koro and I miss him every day. I just wish that koro was still here with us today. Not a day goes by that myself and the whanau don’t think about him.