Malia Moetaua will soon have lived without her mother longer than she knew her.
The St Hilda’s Collegiate School year 12 student’s mother — Kate Moetaua — died at age 46 after a battle with melanoma.
Malia was 8 at the time.
In her honour Malia, now 16, has organised her school’s first Shave for a Cure fundraiser.
“It's quite hard remembering all of what we did together . . . I remember she would read me a lot of bedtime stories because she used to write books and I remember going to drama rehearsals with her,” she said.
"She was very young when she passed.”
Malia did not remember much of her mother’s cancer battle, but said her death had taken a big toll on her family.
Mrs Moetaua was a long-serving drama teacher at Wakatipu High School and was quite involved with the local community.
Organising St Hilda’s first Shave for a Cure was to raise money for a good cause, but also to honour her mother’s memory and show other students whose lives have been impacted by cancer that they were not alone.
"A lot of lives get affected by cancer, and not just the people who have it; all the families and the friends as well.
"I just thought it's such a great cause . . . cancer deserves to be talked about, especially in a big school.”
Malia and the other 22 students taking part have raised more than $10,000 for Shave for a Cure so far, which puts its money towards supporting patients with blood cancer, as well as research.
The cuts and shaves would take place on Friday during lunchtime on the school stage.
laine.priestley@odt.co.nz