Wilma Maaka first met Alan at a bus stop. It was 18 March 2000: St Patrick’s Day.
Wilma could see Alan was a little the worse for wear after a night on the jugs with his friends. But the two found themselves sitting together on the bus and they talked all the way to the stop where they both got off. By then they had arranged to go to a movie together the following evening.
“My friend said to me; ‘she won’t turn up you know’, so I told him ‘If she doesn’t turn up you owe me a jug [of beer]. If she turns up I owe you one.’” The bet cost Alan a jug of beer but won him a friendship that, over the next two years, blossomed into love.
The bus stop has become a very important place for this romantic couple. “Every St Patrick’s Day since then,” adds Wilma, “I wait there and Alan comes along and chats me up.”
It was two years ago when Wilma was first diagnosed with breast cancer.
By April this year it had spread to her neck and lymph nodes.
Despite regular radiology, Wilma was told she was dying and was referred to Hospice North Shore. But, like so many people, she resisted the service. In fact it wasn’t until she was feeling very ill and Alan “couldn’t think straight” that she first accepted a visit from one of Hospice’s community nurses.
“They took me in to the inpatient unit that day,” she says. “As soon as I arrived I knew I was in the right place. And when they told me I could go home ten days later, I didn’t want to leave!”
Alan, too, says he doesn’t know what he would have done without the specialist care provided through the Hospice service. “It was such a relief when Wilma went into the inpatient unit.” he says. “I visited her every day and every day she got a bit better. When she started to tell me what to do again I knew we were looking good!”
In fact, Wilma was so much better, she finally proposed to her long-time sweetheart.
Wilma planned her proposal with the help of her sons. “I arranged for Alan to meet me at the bus stop where we first met,” she explains. “As he approached I took off my jacket to reveal the words ‘ALAN WILL YOU MARRY ME’ on the singlet I was wearing underneath.
A week later the couple married at a simple ceremony on the shores of Lake Pupuke. “If it wasn’t for Hospice I really don’t think I would have been well enough to get married,” says Wilma. “I think I would still be ill today.”
Back home, Wilma continues her daily radiotherapy treatments and welcomes the weekly calls from a Hospice nurse. If she ever feels something is going wrong she calls them. “They know me and my needs better than anyone.”
“Having this care takes the pressure off,” agrees Alan. “We have complete confidence in the people who support us.”
And to you; the people who make that care possible, Wilma and Alan spoke from the heart: “You gave us a new, caring family. We can’t thank you enough.”
You can find more personal stories here.
