Colourful owls to pop up around town in support of Child Cancer Foundation

Sylvia Park School is taking part in Little Hoots to show support for children, like their student Ryu Kireka, who have been diagnosed with cancer. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Auckland's streets will soon be home to 46 giant, colourful owls and 60 smaller owlets, all in the name of a good cause.

New Zealand artists are transforming the 1.65m owl sculptures into works of art which will be displayed around the city as part of the Haier Big Hoot, then auctioned off to raise money for the Child Cancer Foundation.

Auckland schools are also getting behind the initiative in support of their students and teachers who have been affected by cancer. Schools have signed up to decorate 58 smaller owls as part of the Little Hoot.

Dick Frizzell, Jeff Thompson, Flox (Hayley King), Peata Larkin, Weilun Ha and Jessica Pearless will be among the artists using their talents to brighten up the city and the lives of children living with cancer.

The artworks will form a trail around the city which will open on March 3 and run for 10 weeks with the owlets designed by schools being displayed in groups in malls and libraries.

The Child Cancer Foundation hoped to raise more than $300,000 to go towards supporting Kiwi children coping with cancer and their families, chief executive Robyn Kiddle said.

"Owls are icons of storytelling, well known to represent wisdom, migration, diversity, learning and intelligence," Kiddle said.

"As with owls, every child and family who has walked the child cancer journey has their own unique story to tell.

"Each owl sculpture will share a unique and meaningful story."

Every week more than three New Zealand children were diagnosed with cancer and the Foundation aimed to provide each family who wanted one with a family support co-ordinator who could help guide them through the process.

At any given time, the Child Cancer Foundation, which received no direct Government funding, was assisting more than 500 families nationwide.

Haier Big Hoot Auckland 2018 project manager Milly Hemsley said the owls reflected the roles the family support team played in watching over the children and their families.

She said the free trail would be great for getting people out and getting fit, bringing families together and encouraging people to look at art in different ways.

Hemsley hoped hundreds of thousands of people would follow the trail to see the creations.

Schools support cancer kids

Sylvia Park School is taking part in Little Hoots to show support for children, like their student Ryu Kireka, who have been diagnosed with cancer. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Ana Kireka knows just how essential the Child Cancer Foundation is.

In 2013 her son Ryu, who was 4 at the time, was diagnosed with high-risk T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.

"It was a big shock," she said. "We didn't have anybody in our family that's had cancer that we know of."

For three and a half years Ryu went through a gruelling regime of chemotherapy treatments in an effort to rid his body of the disease but on Christmas Eve last year doctors told the family he was in remission.

The whole process had made Ryu grow up fast, Kireka said.

He hated needles so much the family had to promise him new games to stop him from screaming down the walls of the theatre every time he had a procedure but by the time he went into remission, Ryu would make Kireka stay in the car while he ran in to get his blood tests.

"He was a really tough kid."

He now has 623 Beads of Courage representing every procedure he had during his treatment.

Now Sylvia Park School, which 9-year-old Ryu attends, is taking part in the Little Hoots to show support for him and his family.

Ryu was just a month away from starting school when he was diagnosed with cancer and for the next two years the family home schooled him. Last year was the first time he was able to go to school properly and regularly.

"We were so happy to find out that the school would be doing the Little Hoots. They've been such a big help when he was sick," Kireka said. "He thinks it's really, really cool".

Kireka said the family did all it could to support the Child Cancer Foundation because of the huge support they received from the organisation.

It organised events to help children and families feel normal and provided support for parents, she said.

"When we were on treatment we had a family support co-ordinator who was there whenever we needed to talk or I needed a sit-down with an adult. She knew exactly what we were going through."