Supplied
Abby and Paul Fountain are in Christchurch with their daughter Meike while she undergoes her first round of chemotherapy.
What started as flu-like symptoms has kicked off a two-and-a-half-year cancer treatment journey for a Southland family.
The Fountain family, of Te Anau, had their lives upended after nine-year-old daughter Meike was diagnosed with leukaemia last week.
Paul and Abby Fountain are with her in Christchurch, where she’s just begun chemotherapy.
The family are likely to spend the next two months in the city before Meike starts treatment as a day patient at Southland Hospital – 150km away from home.
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Back in Te Anau, good friend Megan Houghton has set up a GiveaLittle page to support the family while they’re away from home and unable to work.
“They’re very good friends of mine, and they’ve been given a major shock,” Houghton said.
It was thought that Meike just had a flu, but Abby pushed for a blood test, which was how she was diagnosed, Houghton said.
She started chemotherapy on Tuesday. Her treatment was expected to take about two-and-a-half years, Houghton said.
Supplied
The Fountain family, with mum Abby, dad Paul and daughter Meike, are an intrinsic part of the Te Anau community, their friend Megan Houghton says. Paul was born and raised in Fiordland, while Abby has been living in the area since she was a teen.
“They’re getting their head around it slowly. They’re just lucky they’ve got such a strong, resilient girl.”
The Fountains were the kind of people who would usually be supporting others in the community, Houghton said, and the people of Te Anau had rallied around them.
Colleagues were picking up shifts for Abby and Paul, there had been a collection at the local supermarket, Fiordland College had arranged a bake sale and mufti day, and photographer Megan Graham was offering fundraising family shoots, among other initiatives.
“They’re just overwhelmed. They didn’t realise they had so many friends,” Houghton said.
Barry Harcourt
Te Anau chief fire officer Graeme Moffat climbed the lakefront stairs on Saturday to raise funds for the Fountain family. He is part of a team of six firefighters from the town heading to the Firefighter Sky Tower Challenge next week.
On Saturday, Te Anau fire chief Graeme Moffat donned his heavy firefighting gear and climbed the town’s lakefront stairs until his oxygen cylinder ran out.
“I’m always keen to try and help someone else. I had a couple of free hours, so I smashed it in,” he said.
Moffat had been training for his first Firefighter Sky Tower Challenge in aid of Leukaemia and Blood Cancer New Zealand next weekend and said the cause hit close to home when he heard about the Fountains.
He wasn’t surprised by the outpouring of love and support the family had experienced.
“That’s what makes this community so special. When something happens, everyone pitches in. The community spirit around here is awesome,” Moffat said.
Shock leukaemia diagnosis for Southland family & Latest News Update
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