Mike Grylls with his wife of 23-years Tasha, both are Far Northland ambulance officers for St John. Photo / Tasha Grylls
Mike Grylls with his wife of 23-years Tasha, both are Far Northland ambulance officers for St John. Photo / Tasha Grylls
Eased restrictions will see a Far North ambulance officer with a rare cancer race south to touch snow for the first time before his health yields.
Mike Grylls and his wife of 23 years, Tasha, were due to fly to the South Island to kick off the 54-year-old's bucket list when the snap lockdown brought their "urgent" plans to spend precious time with every family member to a halt.
The Kaitaia couple are in a race against time after Mike was told he had six months to a year left to live following a shock malignant mesothelioma diagnosis in July.
"We don't have months to do things anymore - we're talking weeks now, and everything has become time-critical," Tasha said.
The rare type of lung cancer is caused by asbestos exposure, which the Grylls believed occurred during Mike's years carrying out structural building works and as a car painter.
Symptoms first started appearing in March when Mike was suffering from a sore back. He'd led an active life that included 12 years as a Houhora volunteer fire brigade and later joined his wife as a St John ambulance officer - most recently based in Doubtless Bay.
"Then he developed a persistent cough that wouldn't go away," Tasha said.
Mike noticed that he'd started to gain weight and had become short of breath.
Troubled by the changes, he decided to get a check-up, thinking there was potentially a problem with his chest or spine.
A whirlwind of scans and biopsies followed.
And two days before Mike's birthday, the Grylls were told the father-of-three had stage four cancer and "there's nothing they can do".
"I'm the real optimist," Tasha said. "I was upset and was like 'it's OK, we can deal with this' before we knew how bad it is. You know, people survive with one lung."
"And he is the realist. He told me he can feel it...that it was worse than what I thought it was."
Mike Grylls with his wife of 23-years Tasha, both are Far Northland ambulance officers for St John. Photo / Tasha Grylls
The couple confronted their shock head-on as they thought about what they could do to make the most of the time Mike had left.
"To do anything costs money and we're not wealthy people. We just get by week to week, like 80 per cent of other New Zealanders," Tasha said.
That's when their close friend and colleague, St John Far North manager Leigh Knightbridge, suggested a Givealittle page to help with their bucket list.
In addition, the bosses at St John ensured the couple had the time off needed to undertake Mike's wish list.
In less than a month, 538 people had donated more than $34,000 to help the Grylls fulfil Mike's hopes.
Tasha said the outpouring of generosity had bought the couple to tears – multiple times.
"Mike's a very humble person. He would do anything for anybody, he'd give you the shirt off his back or the last $5 in his pocket."
"So it's a foreign thing for him to have people give to him when his whole life has been about giving to others. It just blew us away," she said.
The trip south will be a double-whammy of firsts for Mike, who has never ventured to the South Island or touched snow in his life.
"He still thinks it's soft and fluffy like a cloud, as that's what he's seen on the TV. I've tried to explain to him that it's cold, hard and icy," Tasha laughed.
Mike's most precious items on his bucket list included three separate trips away with his children and to see his grandchildren.
He hoped to visit Taupō with his 30-year-old son, who is currently stuck in Auckland's lockdown; as well as a weekend of fine dining in the super city with his 23-year-old daughter, and a trip to Wellington to see the Gallipoli exhibition with his 21-year-old son.
To support the Grylls family's bucket list, people can visit Mike's Givealittle page.
