Teenager Jake Bailey knows first hand what it is like to be diagnosed with a life-threatening illness.
The former Christchurch Boys' High student - whose heart-wrenching end-of-year speech went viral after he was diagnosed with stage 4 Burkitt lymphoma - spoke at a fundraising breakfast in Tauranga organised by Waipuna Hospice last month and has thrown his support behind the Shorts4Waipuna campaign.
The campaign encourages people to sign up to wear shorts on the shortest day of the year to raise money and awareness for the charity whose patients know all too well how short life can be.
At the breakfast, the 18-year-old told the crowd he found it hard to know what to say when asked to speak because he was not qualified to give out life advice.
"But what I am qualified to tell you about is how lucky you are to be here right now, because that's something that I do understand."
