Cheryl Waaka, a former Black Fern and a māmā to two teenagers, is now facing her toughest opponent yet, stage 4 bowel cancer.
She was a fit and strong wāhine Māori hailing from Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Kahungunu, she’s won two World Cups in the black jersey and is still dedicated to the game — but her diagnosis in June has left her stricken with sadness.
“I was healthy, running around, doing my everyday job. It was King’s birthday weekend. There was a Johnny Isaacs Māori tournament in Kaikohe. I was running the line, AR-ing, and three days later, I’m on the floor in excruciating pain.”
She remembers the day her life was changed forever.
“I got my brother to get me to the GP in Kaikohe. Ambulance to Kawakawa. Ambulance to Whangārei and then that night, broke the news that I have a tumour in my bowel and I need to have emergency surgery.
“I suppose I’m very lucky to my surgeon. He got the tumour, but unfortunately, it spread to my liver.
In March, Health Minister Simeon Brown announced the National Bowel Screening Age would be lowered for all New Zealanders from 60 to 58, a step he said would save hundreds of lives.
The “redirected” funding was previously set aside for a pilot programme that allowed Māori and Pacific people to access bowel cancer screening starting at age 50.
While Brown said the age of eligibility for free bowel screening was projected to prevent an additional 771 bowel cancers and an additional 566 bowel cancer deaths over the next 25 years, advocates called the move “institutionalised racism” as half of bowel cancers in Māori occurred before the age of 60.
Waaka, who was up to date on all her health checks, said if the screening age was lowered to 50, her diagnosis would not have been stage 4.
“If it didn’t happen now, would [the tumor] have been still sitting there, and by the time I got to 58, if I got to 58, it might have been too late.
“You look at me, strong, fit, healthy. It can happen to anyone. And I don’t want it to happen to anyone.”
And the effect ripples to her whānau, she recalled the moment she had to break the news to her two children.
“I wouldn’t like to wish that on anybody. Just myself to be told, and then to actually tell the kids.
“I was trying to hold myself to be strong, as we do as wāhine. So that was one of the hardest moments of my life. I wouldn’t wish that.”
The rates of early onset colorectal cancer have risen by 26% per decade on average over the past 20 years, according to University of Otago researcher Dr Oliver Waddell.
Researchers and Māori health practitioners have called for the age to be lowered to 45 as it was in many other countries.
“If we had [earlier] screening, I most probably wouldn’t be costing the country money.
“That’s how I’m looking at it. If I was able to get screened at a younger age, you just imagine how much money this government will be saving in health costs,” Waaka said.
Bowel cancer treatment costs depended on when it was found — stage 1 being the cheapest and stage 4 is the most expensive.
For Waaka, her bowel cancer has got into her liver and aside from rounds of chemotherapy, the non-funded drug she needs comes at a cost of $30,000.
To start her first round of treatment on August 11, she is having to fundraise to survive. But Waaka said it’s a big ask to turn to the community for funds.
“Life is hard, people are struggling and for me, I feel like I’m taken from the whānau.
“And everyone said, you know, you’ve given so much, it’s our time, but deep inside you know everyone’s struggling to survive out there, and I’m just so grateful that people are willing to help me to survive and for me to fight this fight… which I’m going to do.”
She wanted her off-the-field legacy to be remembered as much as her on-the-field career.
“I’m never one to ask for help, but I’m always giving. So for me, my legacy will be that I’ve given everything that I can, and hope I’ve just left something that will remind people of me.”
By Mihingarangi Forbes of rnz.co.nz