Fighter Joanne going strong

HAPPY: Joanne Kumeroa all smiles after competing at the 2014 Golden Shears. PHOTO/PETE NIKOLAISON

Multiple world and Golden Shears woolhandling champion Joanne Kumeroa has made a stunning return to the grand stage.

She contested the open woolhandling event at the 2014 Golden Shears over the weekend just a year after thinking cancer would mean she's never see "The Goldies" again.

Twelve months earlier she had featured in emotional scenes at the Masterton event when it became known that doctors had given her only nine months to live.

But after competing in the latest edition of the world's most iconic shearing and woolhandling competition she said: "I didn't believe it. After everything everyone did last year I really started fighting. They were all hurting.The battle was on."

Last Monday, doctors in Melbourne confirmed "half the cancer is gone" and Kumeroa observed: "All they can say is they're astonished."

They would have been more astonished had they known what was to come next. Kumeroa had no plans for a trip back to Masterton until she got home from work on Wednesday to find air tickets gifted by protege and fellow Kiwi shearer Te Atakura (Tuts) Crawford, who was already off to compete at the Shears. From Whanganui but based in Australia where she is now working mainly as a wool industry instructor, the 44-year-old Kumeroa, winner of two individual and three team world titles as well as six Golden Shears open titles, took the opportunity to return to the venue where in 2013 she had made what she thought was her last pilgrimage to muster support for cancer research.

A special women's event was held there and in one of the most dramatic moments in Golden Shears history open champion Rowland Smith, whose mother had died of cancer, invited Kumeroa on stage and gifted his $3000 winning purse to the cause.

She returned to Australia for the Ducks on the Pond fundraiser in an historic woolshed at Harrow, Victoria, and her 12 months of effort in the face of adversity has raised $68,000.

While Kumeroa didn't manage to make it to this year's open woolhandling final - hardly surprising considering she had competed on only one other occasion since placing runner-up in 2013 when in the throes of her chemotherapy - she still showed the old competitive spirit as she qualified 11th among the 16 qualifiers for the quarter-finals and she has no plans to slow down. Next assignment was a flight to Brisbane to continue her work for Australia Wool Innovation and the Australian Shearing Contractors Association.