THE BATTLER
CANCER and losing Milton, her husband of 18 years, to Pike River’s maw have not stripped Anna Osborne of her spirit.
‘‘I will survive and carry on and live — and get some truth.’’
Truth, justice, the Family Reference Group, the Pike River Recovery Agency, the police and her two children and 3yearold granddaughter, Analia, are her world now.
So is the bone marrow cancer she has battled since 2002. Stem cell treatment in October bought a few more years, and the chance to see Analia go to school.
But do not think Mrs Osborne would swap her life for anyone else’s.
‘‘Milt was my life, my rock and my soulmate. I married a man who cared for me and everyone. And everyone loved him.
‘‘My husband lost his voice that day.’’
Those left behind represented those lost, she said.
‘‘We are their voices — so we have to carry on.’’
Mrs Osborne, together with Sonya Rockhouse, who lost her son Ben in the explosion, forced their way into the national consciousness when the mine’s later owner, Solid Energy, wanted to seal its portal with a 30mlong plug of concrete in 2016.
‘‘That made me angry. There was no way they were going to put a permanent seal on my husband’s tomb,’’ she said.
They famously occupied the roadway to the mine, complete with a caravan called Priscilla, barbecue, portaloo and kitchen sink — stopping contractors from entering to finish the job.
Joined by the father of Pike miner Dan Herk, Rowdy Durbridge, documentary filmmaker Tony Sartorius and advocacy support and adviser Rob Egan, they formed the Family Reference Group, to represent some of the families of Pike miners and spearhead the campaign for the reentry.
‘‘We could not have done it without the support of so many people,’’ Mrs Osborne said.
The reentry announcement was the day when she could ‘‘lose her angry pants’’.
‘‘It felt amazing not having to fight.
‘‘I’m hoping the truth will come forward. I believe in my heart the police will get it right. They have a lot to answer for and they are putting all their resources into making this right.
‘‘I believe they will get a prosecution — I have to believe that.’’
Her walk into the drift with Sonya Rockhouse last October was surreal.
‘‘It was the very track Milt took that day to go to work. At every step I thought, ‘He’s been here’.
‘‘It was cold. It was dark. I felt awful. I could not do it — let alone for 16 hours a day, which was what the company required of them to increase production.’’
She still sometimes expected her husband to walk through the door.
‘‘He worked in Bolivia for 13 months and sometimes I have to think he is still there working
. . . some days are so dark and sad and lonely without him.’’
In her heart of hearts, she was praying the reentry team would find the driftrunner which entered the mine before the explosion to ferry out men at the end of their shift.
The insult to her husband’s death was that he was not a miner, but a contractor who was asked to start his own business for the mine. He had worked there for five months.
‘‘It was huge for us because we were happy living from week to week. Milt saw it as an opportunity to make some money, fix the hole in the roof and go on the honeymoon we never had.’’