The loving legacy and home Lee Rush built
‘Selfless’ partner fought cancer and put focus on creating dream house
Lee Rush died almost three weeks ago, but her partner, Paul Farrow, doesn’t have to look far to see the legacy she left him.
It’s above, below and all around — and now he’s working hard to keep the labour of love that had meant so much to Rush.
In February last year the couple spoke to the Herald on Sunday about how the community had come together to help them finish their years-long slog to turn a former ratand flea-riddled bungalow in the middle of the Waita¯kere Ranges into their dream home.
Rush was then near death after the breast cancer from which she had been given the all clear returned in her bones, interrupting a renovation project the couple started when Farrow ripped up the carpet on their first night at home in 2015.
However, the then 42-year-old rallied and fought.
Meanwhile, the work went on — as well as his own efforts, Farrow estimates around 30 people, including tradies and church groups, from the community gave their time, after a friend spread the word, to help get the house close to finished.
Farrow spoke to the Weekend Herald this week from the couple’s home, surrounded by reminders of his partner of more than six years.
Along with him, the house had kept Rush going, he said.
Even when bed-bound, she was still giving instructions on what should happen, Farrow said.
“It gave us something else to focus on, [and] it distracted her from the pain . . . she was able to feel like she was still part of the project and that kept her going immensely.”
Her influence was everywhere. “All her ideas on how the room was going to look downstairs, the window seat under the window, the deck that was going outside around the spa pool, the skylight that’s in the roof, what she wanted in the bathroom and the kitchen,” he said.
“She had a say in determining what gear was going in there and how that was all going to look with the colour scheme.”
If not for their house, the last months of her life would have been quite different, Farrow said.
“There would’ve just been this constant fight and no real purpose. I know she was fighting to be here and be here for me as well, because she’s quite a selfless person in that manner, but . . . if we were renting as opposed to owning our own home and renovating, it wouldn’t have been the same.”
There was “a million things” he could say about Rush, who he met when both were working as paramedics.
“She was the most positive person through all this, and maintained her positivity no matter what was going on with her pain.
“If you’ve got something you’re passionate about then you make that your focus.
“You can achieve anything, and she got to see what this house was gonna look like finished . . . and it was with all her input.
“She wasn’t going anywhere right till the last.”
His focus now was on keeping the home — he feared he might not be able to afford to stay long term.
Over the next four months Farrow, who goes back to work on Monday, wanted to completely finish the remaining renovations, in the following eight months he would focus on paying down debt.
“I’ll re-evaluate then. I’d like to keep it, but I’m a realist,” he said.
You can achieve anything, and she got to see what this house was gonna look like finished
. . . and it was with all her input. Paul Farrow