Bay of Plenty Times

Scanning the brain to look at future

- CONFRONTIN­G DEMENTIA Carolyne Meng-yee

Herald video journalist Mike Scott is not used to having the lens zoom in on his personal and painful story.

As a little boy, he and his siblings, Chris and Angus, feared their father, who was violent and an alcoholic.

“I knew dad was struggling and he wished he could stop. I remember once he got us out of bed. He was drunk and asked us ‘what do I need to do to stop?’ Mike said.

Bob Scott was 70 years old when he was diagnosed with dementia.

He became forgetful, paranoid, and confused. Worried he might also be predispose­d to dementia, Mike, 48, decided to be filmed having an MRI scan as a healthy volunteer (watch the video to see the results).

“Before the test, there was a little bit of apprehensi­on. Once you actually get into the machine and you know your brain is being scanned, you get a bit nervous. On the one hand it could be pretty negative, on the other hand I could find something that’s going to help me plan for the future.”

Mike’s partner, Marita Lavery, describes him as “loyal and intelligen­t” and a fabulous father to their two daughters,

Ruby, 12, and Aria, 10.

“He’s Mike the adventurer, Mike the active fun guy to hang out with.”

She is proud her “deeply private” partner has revealed so much of himself: “He’s so committed to everything he does. He’s committed to the children, me, his family and the projects he gets involved in.

“Revealing himself at this level is not natural to him, revealing the private backstory in the family is not something he would have considered lightly.

“If we can get a real shift in the support and investment around dementia out of this, that would be another feather in his cap.”

Fees of up to $16 are being charged for tickets to today’s national service to mark the anniversar­y of the Christchur­ch terror attack despite it being a free and public event.

But the Christchur­ch City Council says it will reimburse anyone charged and has apologised for “confusion” over the process.

The We Are One national remembranc­e service will be held at Christchur­ch Arena today from 3pm, organisers opting for a weekend day rather than the anniversar­y date, March 15.

The service is free to attend, however due to limited capacity in

Christchur­ch Arena, and for security reasons, bookings are required.

Seats are ticketed and can be purchased through Ticketek.

The Herald can reveal that the event giant is charging fees for some tickets.

People who choose an ezyticket — Ticketek’s print-at-home PDF ticket — are not charged anything.

But those who want a mobile ticket sent to their phone will be charged $5.50.

Anyone who chooses to pick up their tickets from the venue on the day will be charged $8.50 per transactio­n.

To have tickets mailed will also cost $8.50 and those wanting rural delivery or courier delivery will be stung $16 and $14 respective­ly.

Arguably, the latter options are not likely to be chosen at this stage given how close the service is.

On top of these fees anyone who pays by credit card will face an additional 3 per cent.

The Herald is seeking comment from Ticketek about the fee.

A council spokeswoma­n said Ticketek was responsibl­e for distributi­ng the tickets because it is the licensed ticket provider for all events at Christchur­ch Arena.

“There was never any intention to charge people for the tickets for the service. It is a free, public event,” she said.

“We are sorry if some confusion has arisen from the service charges that Ticketek imposes for certain types of tickets.”

The spokeswoma­n said the “overwhelmi­ng majority of public ticket holders” have chosen the ezyticket option to date.

As of 5pm on Thursday, only five general admission tickets had been purchased and incurred a fee.

“Christchur­ch City Council is happy to reimburse those people for the cost of the service fee,” the spokeswoma­n said.

“They can email remembranc­e@ccc.govt.nz to request a refund.

“For all Muslim community attendees, ticketing has been arranged separately and they have not needed to go through the Ticketek system.”

Fifty-one women, men and children were killed when a gunman opened fire at the Al Noor and Linwood mosques on March 15, 2019. A further 40 were wounded and some have permanent injuries.

The service was due to go ahead in March last year but due to Covid19 it was cancelled.

The programme for this year’s service has been based on what was planned for last year, put together with input from those most affected by the attacks, including survivors and families.

 ?? PHOTO / MIKE SCOTT ?? New Zealand Herald visual journalist Mike Scott with his family, daughter Ruby, 12 (left), Aria, 10, and partner Marita Lavery.
PHOTO / MIKE SCOTT New Zealand Herald visual journalist Mike Scott with his family, daughter Ruby, 12 (left), Aria, 10, and partner Marita Lavery.
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