School boarders keen to help ‘one of our brothers’
Sports-mad schoolboy Nate Wards had only been at his new high school for a week when he was diagnosed with cancer, but his fellow boarders have rallied around like brothers he’d known for a lifetime.
Tomorrow, the 88 boarders along with some teachers and day students from Francis Douglas Memorial College will run and walk in relay for 24 hours to raise money for Nate, 12, who is facing a gruelling nine months of chemotherapy at Starship children’s hospital in Auckland.
A keen athlete, the Hāwera year 9 student started at the New Plymouth school with a knee brace, which he was looking forward to getting off so he could play sport again. It was believed the injury was from playing rugby.
However, an MRI scan just days into the new term showed it was a rare form of bone cancer that required immediate treatment.
Head boarder Josh Carradus, 17, said he was getting involved to help “one of our brothers, because he’s going through the wars at the moment”.
It would be a challenge for them to complete the 24-hour event, for which the weather forecast was looking decidedly rough, he said.
“But what Nate’s going through is way worse than some rain and staying up a little bit late.”
That’s a sentiment shared by Jono Lang, 17, who plans to run and walk for the whole 24 hours, covering 100 laps or 80km.
It was close to home for him because family members have had cancer, Jono said.
The effort required for the fundraising event was “much less than what Nate’s going through”, he said.
The school’s director of boarding, Thomas Kalin, said some day students would join in during the afternoon, some of whom were planning to run halfmarathons, and a teacher had signed up to run a marathon.
“We are doing 24 hours of running and walking as a hostel,” he said.
“We start at midday on Thursday, then year group on and off throughout the night and we’ll all finish at 12pm the next day. We’re thinking about five laps an hour.”
The boys will receive donations for each 800-metre lap they run.
The money will be used to help cover the costs incurred by Nate’s family as he is expected to be at Starship for most of the year, Kalin said.
“It’s about us getting around Nate. He’s one of ours.”
The weather was going to be “shocking”, he said, but it would build character.
Taranaki Tool Hire has donated $600 of lighting to illuminate the field at night, and the hostel kitchen will supply Milo and snacks.
All money raised will go to a Givealittle page set up by Kalin titled “Nate Wards cancer treatment help”.