Good news after three years of hell
After the tragic death of his wife, losing his job and a cancer diagnosis, John Fairweather just wanted something good in his life - and his plea has been answered.
On a rainy night in August 2014, John’s wife Christine was hit and killed by a ute while removing barriers blocking State Highway 3 in Normanby, South Taranaki.
The barriers had been set up by three Taranaki men, who later pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
It was the first in a string of tragedies for Fairweather.
‘‘I’m just over grief. I’ve had enough,’’ he said. ‘‘Sometimes it feels like you can’t carry on but I’m trying bloody hard to.’’
When terminally-ill Auckland woman Kim Girbin sought for a new home for her two dogs, Fairweather said he empathised with her and offered his Hawera home as an option for the dogs.
‘‘I would treasure your dogs and am more than capable of giving them a lovely home,’’ he commented on the article.
Fairweather said he had recently sought a furry friend but could not afford adoption fees and when he saw Girbin’s two dogs he thought they would be perfect.
While he did not receive a response from Girbin over his request, his hopes have been answered by a former dog breeder in Stratford, who has gifted Fairweather a pomeranian puppy named Buffy.
‘‘Like the vampire Fairweather said.
‘‘She described the dog to me and it sounds like I’m going to have a lot of fun.’’
Fairweather had people find his phone number, message him on Facebook and comment on the Stuff article offering him a dog or well-wishes for the future.
‘‘And there’s a man in New Plymouth who set up a Givealittle page.’’
So far $55 had been raised with slayer,’’ excess funds expected to be donated to Fairweather to cover related costs of dog ownership.
In the past four days, he had more positive news than the last three years.
The death of Fairweather’s wife was just the beginning of a string of tragic events.
Two weeks after her death on August 2, 2014, Fairweather said he was told to ‘‘suck it up, life moves on’’ by a former boss and shortly after that he lost his job.
Unable to cope while in the throes of grief, Fairweather gave up two of the family dogs but held on to Louie - a 14-year-old shih tzufox terrier dog.
‘‘He absolutely loved me,’’ he said, scrolling through videos on his phone. In June 2016, Fairweather was diagnosed with bowel cancer.
He was scheduled an urgent surgery the next week, which overlapped with a trip to Brisbane to celebrate the 80th birthday of Christine’s mum.
‘‘So I lost the trip, but they got the cancer out,’’ he said.
But bad news kept coming and six months ago his brother died of cancer.
‘‘Then my sister in Melbourne had a stroke two weeks later. Now she can’t move or talk.’’
And just when he thought he couldn’t suffer any more trauma, Fairweather said last month Louie was feed anti-freeze.
‘‘He was looking up at me and I could see the pain in his eyes.’’
But a trip to the vet came too late and Louie died.
‘‘It just destroyed me. How do you think I kept going after Christine?
‘‘I’m trying to heal the wound but it keeps getting reopened.’’