2+ week, 4+ day ago (693+ words) Gideon Te Ahuru died while scuba diving due to a combination of factors, a coroner has found. Insert image / Supplied Gideon Te Ahuru was an experienced diver and had been scuba diving for 30 years On Waitangi Day the 60-year-old and his brother-in-law took a boat round to Eastbourne in Wellington to look for kina. Te Ahuru went into the water with scuba gear, sending up bags of kina to the boat waiting above. But, after 20 minutes, he surfaced, coughing up blood. Te Ahuru was pulled onto the boat and rushed to shore, where his brother-in-law attempted CPR. He died at the scene. Now his death has prompted a warning from the coroner that divers should be medically fit before getting in the water, and their equipment should be regularly serviced and checked over. After his death, an autopsy revealed that…...

2+ day, 1+ hour ago (520+ words) Tauranga 11-year-old Harry Oxenham refuses to let Type 1 diabetes and cystic fibrosis stop him from eating nine Weet-Bix for breakfast, striving to meet an All Black one day, or giving the Sanitarium Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon his all. This will be the Tauriko boy's third time competing in the TRYathlon. He started at the age of 6 and raced last year too. This year he's looking forward to the biking leg of the Mount Maunganui Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon this Sunday at Arataki Park. He also intends to beat some of his friends who are competing. Mother Aly Oxenham said Harry has plenty of energy, a strong spirit, and a sense of humour despite the challenges he faces. Cystic fibrosis is a condition that causes mucus to build up in the lungs, leading to breathing difficulties. Harry was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at…...

3+ week, 2+ day ago (676+ words) Samoa has issued a travel advisory in light of the current measles outbreak in New Zealand, calling on travellers to get vaccinated and to provide proof of vaccination. It comes as memories of the deadly measles epidemic of 2019 remain front and centre in the minds of many Samoans, with the official death toll recorded at 83 - the majority of those being babies and young children. The virus spread from an outbreak in New Zealand at the time. The advisory - which came into effect this week - has been put in place to prevent potential importation and transmission of measles within Samoa, acting director general of health Dr Auliaimalae Tagaloa Robert Thomsen said. "All travellers, including infants aged 12 months and above, are strongly advised to have received at least one dose of a measles-containg vaccine two weeks before or no later than 14 days…...

2+ week, 14+ hour ago (472+ words) Te Atawhai Mason is preparing to run for 24 hours to raise awareness for a cause close to his heart " breast cancer. The 24-year-old personal trainer and social media content creator was born and raised in R'tana, near Whanganui. He will take on the day-long challenge from 6pm on November 21 in honour of both his grandmothers, who battled breast cancer. "My two nans, who have now passed away, were diagnosed with breast cancer and were lucky enough to survive " that was my motivation to do something around the cancer space," Mason said. He will run for 24 hours around R'tana P' to raise awareness and funds that will go directly to the Breast Cancer Foundation NZ. Breast cancer affects one in nine New Zealand women over their lifetime, according to the foundation. Mason's challenge is in conjunction with the inaugural Hauora at Home…...

4+ week, 1+ day ago (856+ words) The number of measles cases in New Zealand's outbreak has now risen to 17, health officials say. Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora confirmed one more person has been infected - the newest case is from Auckland. "Health New Zealand continues to investigate the current unlinked cases and expects to have more information in the coming days." The latest case means both Auckland and Wellington have the highest number of cases, with six each. Across the country, there are two cases in Manawat" and one each in Northland and Taranaki. Health New Zealand confirmed two new cases yesterday, one of which was a student from Wellington Girls' College. News of another high school student being infected with measles came after acting Prime Minister David Seymour spoke to media outside an Auckland school on Friday afternoon. The school, which is also dealing with…...

3+ week, 13+ hour ago (814+ words) Rotorua mother Beccy Ganley was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2024. Rotorua mother Beccy Ganley says she was "relatively young" when diagnosed with breast cancer. At 47, she had just had her second routine mammogram under the national breast screening programme. Ganley was diagnosed in May last year after a 7mm tumour attached to a cyst was detected. She had no symptoms. "You couldn't feel it. Even when you knew where it was, you couldn't feel it. Ganley is encouraging people to get their routine mammograms and "don't put it off". It comes as the latest Health NZ data shows the Lakes region has the highest rate of breast cancer registrations in New Zealand, with 59.8 cases per 100,000 people in 2022. The Bay of Plenty region has the fifth-highest rate, with 53.9 cases per 100,000 people. Ganley said she had surgery three-and-a-half weeks after her diagnosis....

4+ day, 14+ hour ago (544+ words) Warning: Content may disturb After five years of trying, Auckland woman Victoria Edwards was thrilled to be pregnant, and to give birth, via an emergency caesarean section, to a healthy little girl last month at Auckland's North Shore Hospital. The surgical procedure itself went well, she said. But she later became worried about the amount of blood around the wound. "I raised concerns with midwives on the postnatal ward about significant bleeding and oozing from my surgical dressing," she told the Herald. "Despite repeatedly voicing my worries, no one checked or changed the bandage," she said. "Even then, I said: "Oh, can you check the bandage'? They checked it and said it was fine [but] it was still of concern to me." A few days later, Edwards said the wound started oozing pus-like fluid through the bandage and into her…...

1+ week, 3+ day ago (758+ words) Sylvia and Richard Chambers" parenting journey began much earlier than they were expecting. At 23 weeks and three days Sylvia gave birth to Jett Chambers, who weighed slightly more than a block of butter at 700g. The Hawke"s Bay couple"s pregnancy path was filled with complications, the first of which came at 10 weeks when Sylvia had a miscarriage, losing a twin. "On that same day, we were grieving the loss of the miscarriage, and then bam, we are pregnant still." At 13 weeks, she developed a 12cm by 8cm subchorionic haematoma, then at 20 weeks, she had a velamentous cord insertion, while combating antepartum haemorrhaging through the pregnancy. Then, on July 8 last year, Sylvia was flown to Wellington Hospital from Hawke"s Bay Hospital as a precaution after she passed a blood clot and experienced what she believed to be contractions. "On the flight,…...

3+ week, 6+ hour ago (585+ words) By Margot Staunton of RNZ The parents of conjoined twins in Papua New Guinea have begun a desperate global appeal to try and get their sons surgically separated. Tom and Sawong were born on October 9 and are joined at the abdomen. They are being looked after in Port Moresby General Hospital's neonatal unit. The hospital made a U-turn on Tuesday and advised the family to remain in PNG or face one or both of them dying. Doctors initially explored the possibility of transferring them to Australia for specialist care, but the plan fell through. They have now said surgery is too dangerous and the twins should not travel overseas. However, sponsors are hoping to fly the twins to Germany, where a major university hospital in Freiburg is assessing their case. On Thursday, the parents initiated a worldwide mayday via text,…...

9+ hour, 43+ min ago (452+ words) By Delphine Herbert of RNZ New Zealand Pork chief executive Brent Kleiss believes the country should be concerned about Spain's confirmed cases of African swine fever (ASF). Spain has confirmed that two wild boars found dead near Barcelona tested positive for the virus. Among other countries, the United Kingdom quickly moved to temporarily ban imports from the country. The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) was monitoring the situation in Spain and said New Zealand would not accept any pork from that region of the country. Kleiss agreed that measures like a temporary ban must be put in place. "I guess the big concern for me is that now, along with Spain, 43% of pork coming to New Zealand does come from countries with African swine fever, and these temporary bans don't always stay, even when the ASF does." NZ Pork statistics…...