After surviving breast cancer, Sarah Gandy has made it her mission to make sure New Zealand women know the signs of the disease so they can too. Sarah Gandy is so delightful you can’t help but smile when you speak to her. She speaks in a flurry and giggles often. It feels as if you’re … Read more
How New Zealand startup myReflection is making bespoke, affordable, mass-produced breast prostheses using 3D printing. In a garage on Auckland’s Te Atatu Peninsula, dozens of 3D printers work mechanically away to a rhythmic, whirring hum. On a nearby table sits an array of white “blobs” – some large, some small, some more spherical than others. … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Cancer sufferers react to govt’s new plan, data shows big increase in land sales for forestry, and a striking warning about NZ’s future of defence. Over the weekend, the government made their major announcement on addressing the cancer treatment model. So with the benefit of a … Read more
Diana McDonald remembers the past 13 years through her son Daniel’s fight with cancer. She laughs at his sense of humour. She reflects on his determination to attend university after being diagnosed with a grade four brain tumour at 18. She mulls over the difficulties she and her husband Grant had balancing his needs with … Read more
Jacinda Ardern announced the first part of the government’s cancer plan which is set to impact many in the regions. Not quite following? Here’s what you need to know. So, what’s the big news? The big news is that the government has announced that cancer patients in Hawke’s Bay, Taranaki and Northland will, for the … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Greens push policy at restive annual conference, police alarm Ihumātao protectors by showing rifles, and two major stories about dodgy historic rubbish dumps. The Green Party have held their annual conference over the weekend, and it heralded both policy drives, and organisational blows. We’ll start with … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: National launches major policy on cancer drug funding, popular support swells for Ihumātao protectors as govt steps in, and ski industry workers face snow drought. National have announced big plans for cancer drug funding if they win in 2020. At the party’s annual conference, leader Simon … Read more
Richard Babor, a general surgeon, explains what’s he learned about cancer prevention during the making of his TVNZ show How Not to Get Cancer. The first memory I have of cancer is when my aunt got diagnosed. I was young, in my teens, but I don’t think I really understood what the word “cancer” meant. … Read more
Ahead of their new album release, Toby Morris wore a different Beastwars t-shirt every day. He reflects upon his week and the entire Beastwars catalogue. Monday This week the impossible is happening: the mighty Beastwars, probably New Zealand’s most beloved metal band are back from dead (almost literally) with a new album. I’ve decided to … Read more
As two trusted groups go into battle on SPF ratings, microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles explains what the numbers mean, and how they’re measured The Cancer Society and Consumer NZ recently got in to a bit of a fight after Consumer NZ tested the SPF of a whole bunch of sunscreens and found that the Cancer Society’s … Read more
A chronic illness is a life-changing experience for anyone – but what if it stops you from doing the one thing you’re best at? Dick Widdison writes about his year writing with a chronic illness. I’ve never found writing hard. It’s the brag that I genuinely never intend as one – it’s just that the … Read more
In the age of advanced genetics, whakapapa is a powerful tool against hereditary illness. Don Rowe talks to Dr Karyn Paringatai, the stomach-less doctor reconnecting whānau to save lives. Dr Karyn Paringatai has lived eight years without her stomach. After the organ was completely removed in 2010, Paringatai’s oesophagus was sewn to her small intestine, creating … Read more
The Testimatic is New Zealand’s first medicinal glory hole, providing an eye-contact-free testicular examination. Don Rowe gets his balls squeezed in public. “If you don’t do it, your story is bullshit fake news,” the man said. “That’s journalism – you have to do it or really you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.” … Read more
Today is Pink Shirt Day, an international initiative aimed at ending bullying. Here, Kiri Speirs shares her daughter Zoe’s story. It still haunts me to know that being bullied was a feature of the last few months of my daughter’s life, that in the beginning it wasn’t handled very well and that I failed her … Read more
The fifth – and final – instalment of Peter Wells’ diary of life with cancer, republished from his private Facebook with permission. Read part one here, part two here, part three here and part four here. April 12, 2:39am I’m back from the dead. The thought struck me today with almost a physical force when I … Read more
Year in, year out, the controversy over the possible health effects of electro magnetic frequencies from cellphones and cellular antennas rumbles on. Telecoms writer Paul Brislen takes a deep dive into the evidence. We’ve been aware of the electro magnetic spectrum since the first cave dweller peeked out and saw a blazing orb in the … Read more
The fourth instalment of Peter Wells’ diary of life with cancer, republished from his private Facebook with permission. Read part one here, part two here and part three here. February 20 I’m the luckiest person on earth. I always feel this when I walk into our Napier house. It’s really where Douglas and I are truly … Read more
The third instalment of Peter Wells’ diary of life with cancer, republished from his private Facebook with permission. Read part one here and part two here. January 16, 3:27am I set off on my pilgrimage to the oncology clinic in the spirit of my first day at school, with associated nerves and too much baggage … Read more
The second instalment of Peter Wells’ diary of life with cancer, republished from his private Facebook with permission. Read part one here. December 12, 1:56am The humility of my condition. It’s only when I approach the cancer clinic I see all the other wanderers and strays either coming away or walking in the same direction. … Read more
Murdoch Stephens saw Mount Eerie play in Krakow, visited Auschwitz, and wrote about how to listen to songs of unimaginable tragedy. What are the limits of processing grief through a song? Love is easy. The performer is either in love or out of it, so, for most of us, there’s no problem with identifying with … Read more
Acclaimed New Zealand author Peter Wells has been keeping a diary ‘talking about what I saw, was going through, thought’ since his cancer diagnosis. November 15, 10.45am View from my hospital room. In the foreground, the green building is where I flatted with my brother Russell in 1974. Russell was a great stylist and the … Read more
When Counties Manukau Health dropped plans for a Ronald McDonald House for families of Middlemore Hospital patients, many parents of very sick children were shocked. Caroline Beech explains why Ron’s House means so much to those who use it. The scan found our daughter’s tumour on a Tuesday. A week later we were on a … Read more
Inside the oncology day ward at Wellington Children’s Hospital, a little girl has her final round of chemotherapy. Her family allowed The Spinoff Parents to come to the session and share some of their story with readers. Photos by Danny Rood. Words by Emily Writes. Elliot Maria Win Beech loves kiwifruit so much she eats … Read more
That Dragon, Cancer was one of the most critically acclaimed indie games released in 2016. The point and click adventure’s frank depiction of a family’s battle with illness seemed to push video games into new territory. Tof Eklund spoke with one of the game’s creators about how the game was made and how some critics missed … Read more
If we were able to speak to the people we were when we first became parents, what would we say? Kiri Speirs reaches back through the years to speak to the mum she was to her beloved daughter Zoe. Dear Zoe’s mama, 2006 I know you know she is a miracle and you love her … Read more
Marion McLeod reviews In Gratitude by Jenny Diski, which she began writing when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Her given name was Jennifer Simmonds, which always makes me laugh. A name from Tunbridge Wells or Teddington. That’s what her mother wanted – a nice, well-behaved, middle-class daughter. The daughter didn’t oblige, though she did … Read more
That Dragon, Cancer is less of a game and more a series of interactive abstractions, writes Joseph Harper, but that only makes it all the more effective. I don’t know if morons who hold the view that video games aren’t art still exist. But if so they should play That Dragon, Cancer. An autobiographical game, created … Read more