Tauranga landslide: Family loses $50K worth of items two weeks after cancer diagnosis

An aerial image of the landslide that crashed into homes on Egret Avenue in Maungatapu on Saturday. Photo / Paul Griffin

The first thing Mikaere Gerbes asked his doctor after being diagnosed with cancer was “Can I still race my race car?”

The 16-year-old Maungatapu teenager, also known as Mickey, was diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin’s lymphoma three weeks ago after noticing a lump on his leg.

Mikaere’s father, Myk Gerbes, said it had been a “dream” of Mikaere’s to race in the speedway. Mikaere also owns a mini-stock car.

But now, his car is sitting in a garage “covered in rubble” and inaccessible after a landslide crashed into their home just before midnight on January 28 following torrential rain.

Gerbes lives with his partner Rebecca Hayes and their children Mikaere, and Campbell Hayes, 14, on Egret Ave in the Tauranga suburb of Maungatapu.

Mikaere (Mickey) Gerbes, 16, was diagnosed with Stage four Hodgkin's lymphoma last month. Photo / Supplied

The family was one of 24 homes that were evacuated due to the large slip. Their neighbours Luke Hanan and Teressa’s home was was destroyed by the landslide.

Two weeks before the slip, Mikaere went to the doctor after noticing a lump on his leg had grown bigger. He was told to immediately go to the hospital.

Gerbes said Mikaere was diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Mikaere will start chemotherapy within the next two weeks and will undergo six treatment sessions over 18 weeks.

“They haven’t mentioned anything about terminal, thank God for that, but it’s still well advanced,” Gerbes said.

“They claim that it should ... get rid of it all.”

Gerbes said Mikaere was “a bit of a medical mystery”.

“The doctors can’t believe he’s still racing his mini-stock ... he was still going to work, he’s still playing basketball outside with his brother and friends.”

Gerbes said the first thing Mikaere asked his doctor after finding out he had cancer was, “Can I still race my racecar?”

“The doctor was like ‘you can do whatever you want mate, if you get through this’,” Gerbes said.

“And then he sort of looked at me and said ‘you’ll have to put a bigger seat in it so you can race it’.

“And I said ... ‘there’s no way I’m burying one of my own children. You’re the only one that’s going to be racing that car, no one else’.”

Gerbes said it was Mikaere’s “dream” to race in the speedway.

“He’s been a big spectator forever and just itching to race mini stocks.”

Campbell Hayes (left) and Mikaere Gerbes the morning after the slip. Photo / Carmen Hall

On the night of the landslip, Gerbes said he, Rebecca and Mikaere were asleep while Campbell was upstairs playing Xbox.

“We just sort of heard this loud crack ... and I was half asleep.

“We knew rain was coming, I thought, that sounds like hail on the roof. It sounds like the roof has come down. And then it was just an almighty thunder after that. And then it just went quiet.

“And then I just heard screaming, I heard Campbell squealing ... and then I heard Teressa next door screaming for the kids.

“I’m on the phone to 111 and Campbell is hyperventilating and nearly fainting because his whole life is sitting in the shed covered in rubble with Mickey’s car.”

Gerbes said emergency services arrived quickly.

Once they were outside, they saw part of Hanan’s and Hodgson’s house had gone through their house.

The boys' race cars were in the garage and have been damaged after the slip. Photo / Supplied

Eleven days later, nothing had been moved, Gerbes said.

“We’ve been in a couple of times to get some stuff out but everything’s still exactly how it’s sitting. Rebecca’s car has been written off, my ute’s still there but I don’t know what’s happening with that.”

The stock cars were also still in the garage. He estimated Campbell’s car was worth $12,000 and Mikaere’s was “a bit less”.

Gerbes estimated the cost of the damage could be around $50,000.

The internal garage was “gone” as was a small tin garage out the back. Upstairs, some of the roof had come through the wall.

Gerbes said items in the garages included a water blaster, lawnmower, bikes, Mikaere’s new scooter, a kayak, power tools, spare batteries, race gear, a washing machine, and a dryer.

But despite the damage, in his view, “you definitely could still live in there.”

For now, the family is staying at Hayes’ father’s place.

Gergbes was waiting for more information from Tauranga City Council, Civil Defence, and engineers to let them know when they could return home.

He said their insurance company had been “really good” when they wrote off Hayes’ car but dealing with a contents claim was more challenging, he said.

He also said the house had been “wide open” for the past 11 days.

“We’re not sure how much more moisture or water has got into everything else like the beds.”

Mikaere Gerbes and Campbell Hayes with their race cars. Photo / Supplied

Gerbes thanked the people who had already donated more than $10,000 to their Givealittle page and the speedway community for their support. He also thanked Aspire gym in Bethlehem who refunded their membership after they heard about their story.

“The main thing is we’re alive, we’re okay, we’re here to tell the story ... There’s always people out there who are worse off than us, like Luke and Teressa next door, like people losing their lives in Auckland.”

Neighbours Dave and Sue Harding’s home was also damaged in the slip. They have been staying at a motel in Mount Maunganui but will move into a friend’s place on Friday until the council advises when they can return home.

Dave Harding said both their cars were trapped and they were unable to get them.

“We’re not allowed in there - we could go in there a couple of days ago for two hours to get extra clothes out and clean out the fridges.

“It’s only the front part and the garage part [where] the doors need replacing and the big mess out the front. Once they excavate that, the house is good.”

Last week,Niwa reported Tauranga experienced its wettest January on record, with 385.3mm of rainfall recorded at Tauranga Airport.

MetService meteorologist April Clark said weather conditions in Tauranga were now expected to stay mostly dry this week and generally fine.

However, “There is a ridge of high pressure that will be building from midweek which could bring a few cloudy periods and a possible shower or two.’’

MetService warned upper North Island regions could be in the firing line of another cyclone with more heavy rain. Clark said the earliest it could develop was Sunday but it was unclear exactly where it would hit.

‘’It’s still sitting out south to the Solomon Islands and it’s just a tropical low at the moment but the Bureau of Meteorology in Australia is expecting that to intensify into a tropical cyclone on Thursday.’’

Clark said exactly how severe the impacts would be in terms of strong easterlies and heavy rain was something to keep an eye on later in the week.