Cancer claims Kiwi lawyer in US

Family bringing ashes back to ‘true home’, write Jessica Long and Jacques Steenkamp.

Michael Byrne’s love for the All Blacks remained undimmed as his legal career took him from the deep south of New Zealand to the midwest of the United States.

And so when the high-flying lawyer was diagnosed with terminal cancer, he laid down his own challenge to the feared disease with a ferocious haka.

The haka was filmed and shared amongst his American friends, who began performing their own haka as a mark of respect to their dying friend.

His widow Rigel Oliveri, 44, a university law professor, and their two children Griffin and Shennie now plan to come to New Zealand to scatter his ashes on Mt Kaukau, near Wellington, and in the Marlborough Sounds.

Oliveri said her husband always wanted to return to his ‘‘true home’’.

‘‘Michael wanted to show the kids New Zealand but in the end it became too difficult for him to do so. But he was very clear about where his ashes must be scattered,’’ said Oliveri.

Byrne died last month at his home in Columbia, Missouri, 18 months after he was first diagnosed with cancer.

In a final salute to the 44-yearold’s life, friends and family honoured him by changing their social media account pictures to a shot of a silver fern banner with the words #HAKABYRNE.

The image spans their social I don't mind fighting the impossible fight, but I'm not going to be in denial about what I'm facing. media pages and before Byrne’s death, on September 20, it brightened his final months as a reminder of his favourite sport and the place he always considered home.

‘‘Michael wanted to show us that he was going to fight his cancer, and our friends showed their support through #HAKABYRNE,’’ said Oliveri.

Before his death, her husband met various people to say his goodbyes and to plan his memorial services.

‘‘He researched everything and did all he wanted to do before his death. That’s how he approached life, in a matter-of-fact way.’’

He also spent many days filming personal messages to his wife, kids, relatives and friends. Oliveri said she hasn’t seen any of them but knew that he recorded 40 hours of footage.

Byrne was a fifth-generation Kiwi born in Manila. The family spent some time in Geneva before returning to New Zealand where Byrne’s playground became the ridges surrounding Mt Kaukau, Wellington.

The family moved to Virginia in 1980 but he later returned to be the first student to graduate from Otago University with three bachelor degrees, in law, arts, and commerce.

His first job, as a Treasury analyst, earned Byrne ‘‘fame’’ for attempting to limit the tax advantages for filming in New Zealand, before Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings shoot.

The work motivated him to return to the US and study tax law at Harvard Law School.

In 2009, Byrne opened his own criminal defence practice, and he went on to work as an assistant attorney general at the Missouri Attorney General’s Office.

In 2016, he was diagnosed with stage three esophageal cancer.

‘‘I don’t mind fighting the impossible fight, but I’m not going to be in denial about facing,’’ he said in a post.

‘‘I wish I still had time with the kids ... I would like to experience their lives and to go to New Zealand with them.’’

Pain, and Byrne’s beliefs in human rights, pushed him to advocate for a change to euthanasia laws in his last months, convinced prolonging life was a ‘‘fundamental injustice’’ of medical and legislative systems.

Byrne hoped to be remembered as an honest man who spoke his mind. His friends said he was an animated character with ‘‘impossibly perfect hair’’, had a vivid imagination, mischievous streak and determination to excel in everything.

His funeral will be held on October 7. what I’m Facebook