Editorial: Survivor's dedication to saving others model for all

There is no better way to end a year than to choose one New Zealander among many who contributed something exceptional to national life.

This year a senior Herald editorial team settled on 10 finalists, all of whom had made news during 2016.

There were the whanau of Te Puea Memorial Marae in Mangere, who opened their doors to homeless families as the weather turned cold in June and the Government was scrambling for solutions.

There was the late Helen Kelly, who was an inspiring union leader, winning battles for workers' health and safety almost until she succumbed to cancer this year, and the anonymous mother who told us about her autistic child being locked in a tiny "seclusion" cupboard at his primary school.

Ombudsman Peter Boshier, who spoke out against the use of seclusion for mental patients and elderly people with dementia, as well as for children, also made the shortlist. So did Professor Patria Hume, whose research indicated a link between concussion in rugby and high rates of dementia relatively early in old age among former players.

So did Taika Waititi, creator of the year's most popular New Zealand film, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, and Eliza McCartney, whose Olympic bronze in the pole vault came right out of the blue, as did her winning smile.

And Peter Beck, who intends to launch commercial rockets into space from New Zealand, and Major and Jason Timms, who opened their marae to people stranded at Kaikoura after the November earthquake, also made the shortlist.

But out of them all we chose Leisa Renwick, who brought sufficient political pressure on the Government to have the new cancer drug pembrolizumab (known as Keytruda) provided from public funds.

Renwick had paid for her own course of Keytruda and it was effective against her melanoma but she knew fellow sufferers could not afford the immunotherapy treatment. So the Tauranga maths teacher took it upon herself to challenge Pharmac.

Australia and the United Kingdom provided the drug, she saw no reason New Zealand could not. Her petition attracted 11,085 signatures and she was due to present it to Parliament's health select committee when the Government found an extra $39 million for Pharmac, allowing two immunotherapy treatments to be provided for advanced melanoma without taking funds from medicines that rated better for value in Pharmac's assessment.

"We have a finite budget," she acknowledges today.

"But it's no different to the budget of any other organisation. It comes down to what your values are, and then it's easy to make the decisions that have to be made."

Alongside our New Zealander of the Year, this time we are featuring The Hits People's Choice Award for 2016, chosen by the votes of more than 4000 Herald readers and listeners to The Hits radio station.

They have selected an 18-year-old in Kaitaia, Nina Griffiths, who quietly decided to do something about a spate of suicides among her age group in the town this year.

Discussion was discouraged at their school, so she organised community meetings and launched an awareness programme. To give youth a place to express themselves in art, music and dance, she secured a $10,000 AMP grant to create a hub of these activities in Kaitaia.

She is a shining example of what can be done.