‘He’s lost his granddad, his best mate, his Poppa’
Horror crash on SH2 leaves Katikati family mourning their ‘rock’
A family has been left heartbroken after two road tragedies 31 years apart took the lives of two of their own. They’re also struggling to find the money for a much-needed drug as another member of the family fights cancer. Now their community is rallying around them. Kiri Gillespie reports.
Aman who died in a car crash near Waih¯ı Beach has been remembered as a cherished pillar of the Katikati community.
It is a community that is now coming together to look after his remaining family members who are also struggling to fund a lifechanging cancer drug.
David Hart, 73, was killed in a serious crash on State Highway 2 at Athenree Gorge on January 2. Several people including children aged 6 and 8 were injured.
A fire chief who responded described the crash as one of the worst he had seen.
Hart had been married to his wife, Glenda, for 54 years. She suffered critical injuries and remains in the hospital where she’s expected to stay for about six weeks. She’s also expected to need rehabilitation for many more months. A public funeral service for Hart is yet to be held until she is well enough to attend.
A Givealittle page has since been set up to help the family pay for funeral costs, travel expenses to and from the hospital and to help cover Glenda’s rehabilitation.
On the page, family friend Dannae Baker asked people to “please join us to wrap this family in love and support for their difficult journey”.
“Dave was a pillar of our community and always the first person to put his hand up, whether it be with parents of the School Group, helping with discos, comedy shows or whatever else needed doing. He also helped the local Katikati Sea Scouts, cricket and soccer teams.”
Hart’s death comes as a blow to a family already dealing with heartbreak.
Hart’s daughter, Debbie, and her husband, Roy Nugter, have spent recent years fundraising to help pay for the life-extending drug Keytruda.
In 2018, Roy was diagnosed with stage 4 squamous cell carcinoma of the lungs. At the time his prognosis was six to 12 months without treatment or one to three years with treatment.
In 2021, after enduring rounds of chemotherapy, Roy spoke of his wish to spend time with his young son and Hart’s grandson, Kobie,, who is his and Debbie’s only son after four years of IVF.
Keytruda is funded for certain lung cancers and melanoma (skin cancer), but not squamous cell carcinoma which has metastasised to Roy’s lungs. His only option is to pay for the treatment himself, which costs about $100,000 for 10 treatments.
This week, Debbie told the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend through tears that her father’s death reinforced their dream to get Keytruda for her husband.
“Now more than ever we need to raise funds for Roy. He’s all we have left.”
Thirty-one years ago, Debbie’s only brother was killed in a crash. Their mother was also seriously injured in that crash.
“So this is the second time my mum had to go through this.”
The family did not wish to discuss the previous tragedy in detail for privacy reasons.
Debbie said she tries most days to visit her mother in the hospital, where a private service was held for her father. The void created by the loss of Debbie’s father was one shared by her nine-year-old son.
“My little boy, he’s lost his granddad, his best mate, his Poppa – those are his words too, he’s said that since he could talk.”
Debbie said her parents lived on the same property as them since moving to the area about 11 years ago.
“Kobie, he’s grown up with Nan and Poppa there. When Roy was working, he would have to go away two to three nights a week and Poppa was there for Kobie. He was the one that would kick a ball with him, play with him, and do all of those things when Roy was not here.”
Roy worked cleaning service stations and forecourts across the North Island, which often meant 60-hour weeks and two nights away most weeks. The couple also owned a lifestyle block south of Katikati.
After Roy was diagnosed, he could no longer continue his work and the couple had to sell the block for something more manageable.
His income went from $1100 a week to $240.
Despite this, Roy was “positive” and “determined”, Debbie said.
All hopes were pinned on reaching the Keytruda goal, expected to help extend the life of a person living with a terminal illness.
“It certainly has given people five or more years,” Debbie said. “I think without that, well, he’s terminal. That’s basically it.”
Debbie said Roy nearly died this time last year but pulled through. The time since had been “a topsyturvy year” which had already taken a toll on the family before the loss of her father, she said.
Debbie described her father as “very laid back”, quietly spoken, with a “fantastic sense of humour”.
“He lived a good life. He loved helping people. He loved helping kids. A lot of what he did, he did for others.”
Debbie referred to fundraising discos and comedy shows where he would arrive, unprompted, sometimes dressed up as a cowboy, and do whatever he could to help.
“He was just so patient,” she said. “He was my rock.
“He was always there when I needed something. Even now when I look out the window and expect to see him.
“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to live with.”
Debbie said she was now coping one step at a time but some days “it’s more like an hour at a time”.
What was helping was “amazing friends” and the generosity of
the local community. They say it takes a village to raise a family — well, we were our own little village of five.”
Now, the village had grown wider, she said.
More than $1000 has been raised already on Baker’s Givealittle page, and another $36,779 has been raised via the family’s original page set up in 2021 for Roy’s treatment.
Debbie said she did not expect the latest crowdfunding page to be set up but the gesture and generosity already shown had been “amazing”.
“It just blows me away, it really does. Just with what we are going through with Roy, it makes you feel a little less alone. And just to know that somebody’s thought of you, someone’s thinking of you, I don’t think people realise how huge that is,” she said. “There are a lot of good people out there still.”
Baker’s Givealittle page aims to raise $15,000. The Keytruda fund aims to raise $100,000 solely for treatment.