Liz Woodley's family were hugely proud of their wife and mum becoming a police officer - pictured here at her graduation in December 2003. Photo / Supplied
Liz Woodley's family were hugely proud of their wife and mum becoming a police officer - pictured here at her graduation in December 2003. Photo / Supplied
Liz Woodley, a well-loved Horowhenua local, lost her 12-year battle with cancer last month.
She was the youngest daughter of George and Imelda Lomas and, like her nine older siblings, attended St Joseph's Primary school and Horowhenua College.
Liz and husband Kane were teenage sweethearts who were 16 and 17 when they caught each other's eye while biking to their respective jobs each day.
A year after they started dating, knowing that Liz was the one for him, Kane proposed.
Marrying on Valentine's Day in 1986, the couple started their family quickly - daughter Leesa arriving in 1987, son Kyron in 1989 and another daughter, Sarika, born in 1998.
Liz Woodley with her first section when stationed at Levin after graduating from police college in December 2003. Photo / Supplied
By the early 2000s Liz was working for a doctor as a medical receptionist, but felt she needed more challenge in her life and decided to apply to the police.
In 2003, Liz was accepted into the recruitment programme at the police college in Porirua and Kane became a solo dad for six months.
With family and friends pitching in to help, and being able to make his job work around their children, Kane kept the home fires burning while Liz followed her dream.
"It was a real eye-opener for a number of our friends and family that Liz wanted to take this leap, but she was always really community minded," said Kane. "The kids and I were so proud of her as well ... she had to work hard for this."
Liz specifically requested to be stationed back in Levin after graduating in December 2003, initially being keen on community policing.
Senior Constable Liz Woodley taking part in a police cannabis recovery operation, in the role of wincher, as a reward for good work in previous ops. Photo / Supplied
Her brother remembered a story Liz told him about one of her first jobs after graduating.
"Liz had to bring a well-known local lad in for questioning. She went [to visit] his father, who wasn't too happy to see the police at the door," said Terry. "When Liz introduced herself, he knew our dad [so] she was invited in for a coffee [and] told the son would be in her office at 1pm."
By 2010, when Liz received her initial breast cancer diagnosis, she was part of the Tactics Unit, an investigative police team, a role she loved and was very successful at.
Liz had an operation to remove the lump from her breast, underwent radiation treatment and was given the all-clear by the end of the year.
In 2011, Liz's right hip became sore and she needed to use a walking stick to get around, but x-rays weren't showing anything amiss.
At the time Liz was extremely active in basketball, having represented Levin for many years, so put her hip issues down to a sporting injury.
Liz and Kane Woodley's children and partners joined them on their last overseas trip pre-Covid - creating special memories together. Photo / Supplied
Liz eventually went to see a sports physio in Palmerston North who had yet another set of x-ray images taken and finally the truth was revealed.
The hip bone was full of cancer and had been almost eaten away - in fact it was on the verge of collapsing.
The hospital took x-rays of Liz's whole body again and found the cancer had spread to her ribs and spine - "there were little spots all over the place … all lit up," said Kane.
She was given a prognosis of three to 10 years. Kane said the first three years were the hardest, constantly worrying about how much time Liz had, but she kept fighting.
Liz told her oncologist, Dr Rebecca Carroll, she'd do whatever treatment was suggested because she wanted to stick around for her family, and ended up doing 11 types of chemo during her 12-year battle.
Kane said Dr Carroll was "bloody awesome" and the last thing she said to Liz at her final visit was: "I'll never forget you – you have gone above and beyond all our expectations."
All the specialists Liz saw were amazed by the fact she was still working but the passion for her job was another thing that kept her fighting.
"Liz always had an excuse to go back to work … search warrant to write up, summons to do … she had found her passion big time," said Kane.
She also kept up her participation in basketball during her cancer battle, playing in the New Zealand Police team as well as still being involved with local clubs.
"Basketball was also a great passion and motivator for Liz to keep fighting," said Kane.
In April 2021, Kane realised things weren't going so well for Liz - "she was such an out-going person … loved her mates but started to turn down invites … just wanted to stay at home with me at night."
Liz worked until she became bedridden and had told her supervisor, Detective Sergeant Darcy Parke, she wanted to die as a serving police officer.
To honour this, on the day of Liz's funeral, DS Parke signed her on under her call sign in the morning, then signed her out for the final time at the end of the shift.
The second to last day before Liz died, she was rushed to Palmerston North hospital by ambulance.
"They told us her liver was buggered and asked Liz if she wanted to go into hospice for a couple of days because it might be too hard on me," said Kane, "I said I'd be right …. Liz said she wanted to go home."
On Saturday March 19, Liz got what she wanted - to die surrounded by family in her own space – to be able to say her last goodbyes.
In the words of her brother-in-law, Brendon Woodley, Liz faced the battle of cancer with great courage and optimism and with dignity and grace.
Kane's main aim is to finish their home, which was built seven years ago and was their pride and joy – "we've had both of our daughters' weddings here … lots of family celebrations [as well as] Liz's final passing."
Elizabeth Mamie Woodley (Lizzie) April 23, 1967 – March 19, 2022
