A Gold Coast-based former Queenstowner diagnosed with terminal motor neurone disease three weeks ago is returning to her ‘spiritual home’ next month for a ‘last hurrah’ holiday.
Originally from Rotorua, 52-year-old Aroha O’Brien’s been given only 12 to 24 months to live, and can feel her body declining daily.
While in Queenstown between 2000 and 2003 she managed a former Beach St jade shop, but lost a daughter from her first husband in the second trimester of her pregnancy.
“After we lost her we decided to move to Australia because we had too many heartbroken memories, to be honest.
“But I know her spirit’s there and I want my [six] sons to go back there to see their sister.”
Friends set up a GoFundMe page to help her and her family make the trip — it’s already reached half its $A30,000 target.
O’Brien contacted 10-room Aspen Grove holiday home, 7Manata, and after asking the owners for a discount was bowled over when they offered it for free plus three Toyota Prados to get around in.
“I was like, ‘oh my gosh, it’s just saving us a fortune’.”
She says despite her “unimaginable” heartbreak while here, “I also found a profound sense of peace and connection to a place I have never forgotten”.
“There is something about Queenstown, its breathtaking beauty, its people and the memories I carry that makes me feel connected to my daughter.”
She’s now bringing 16 of her family from both sides of the Tasman, including her second husband, John Lyons, who’s never been here — “we’re going to celebrate early Christmas”.
She’s planning to go to Skyline and take the Earnslaw to Walter Peak, and also fly to Milford with her hubby — “when I lived there I never went because I was always bloody working in tourism until 11 o’clock at night”.
O’Brien, who traces her whakapapa to Tūhoe and Ngāti Tūwharetoa, says she burst into tears when receiving her cruel diagnosis — “I must admit, it was a rough 24 hours, especially when I had to come home and tell my sons”.
But, she says, “I do have a beautiful outlook on death — it’s just a simple transition”.
“I think it’s harder on everyone else than it is on myself.
“My husband’s taking it really hard, to be honest, he’s quite devastated, as you can imagine.
“But it’s like, well, it’s just a part of life.
“Hopefully, I’ll be one of those who it’ll be a slow process for.”
- The fundraising page set up for O’Brien and her family is gofund.me/f6edba012; money raised beyond the cost of the trip will go towards her medical equipment and mobility aids and to helping her husband take time off from work
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