Graham and Mery Brooke-Smith are battling to live as long as they can for their young sons. Photo / Supplied
Graham and Mery Brooke-Smith are battling to live as long as they can for their young sons. Photo / Supplied
When Graham Brooke-Smith found out the woman of his dreams, whom he met on a dance floor 14 years ago, had the same terminal cancer as he did, he bawled his eyes out.
"When I first got diagnosed I was quite stoic about it. I didn't get too emotional at all because I knew that Mery would be there for the kids," the 50-year-old civil engineer told the Herald from his office in Ellerslie.
That was January last year. He never expected just five months later Mery, now 52, would discover she too was riddled with aggressive lung cancer, through her spine and thigh bone.
"I cried. Honestly I just bawled my eyes out. Mery obviously did the same. We were both very upset because that initial plan was out the window, it wasn't available to us anymore and that was hard," he said.
The pair met through a mutual friend at a Christmas party in 2008.
"It was her smile and her energy. It was effervescent really, she lit up the room and everyone around her responded to her in an amazing way and I remember thinking 'wow she's got something special'."
He said their relationship blossomed and nine months later he asked her to marry him.
"We just knew that we were made for each other, so it was really beautiful."
A year after getting hitched at St Andrew's Church in Howick, they welcomed their first son into the world, Marcos, now 11 years old, and later their Daniel, who is 9.
Graham and Mery Brooke-Smith want to spend as much time as they can with their two sons, Marcos and Daniel. Photo / Givealittle
Telling their boys they had stage four lung cancer wasn't easy and they were straight with them from the beginning, Brooke-Smith said.
"We let them know that we loved them very much and we sat them down and said that we have some difficult times ahead of us, Dad has cancer and now Mum does, but we are going to fight this and beat it," he said.
The Auckland dad said one of Mery's best friends, whom she had known for 20 years and had two children of her own, had offered to adopt the boys if treatment didn't work.
"It's a beautiful thing to put their hand up and say 'I'll adopt them if necessary' and secure their future in a loving caring family. It took away all that stress and worry about their future."
Now, the couple's focus was on getting well and "fighting for our lives".
Mery was in hospital recovering from surgery. Last week, a rod was inserted into her leg to reinforce her thigh bone that had been severely eroded by cancer.
She started immunotherapy and was due to begin chemotherapy next week.
About a week ago, friends launched a Givealittle appeal to help the pair, who face crippling bills with only their chemotherapy covered.
Brooke-Smith's ongoing treatment would cost his family at least $100,000 and the couple do not have medical insurance. Mery's treatment will cost $90,000 for six months and then $2200 for every subsequent month.
The cause of their cancer remains a mystery. Neither parent smokes and both live a healthy lifestyle.
"Please consider helping to fund their treatments so that their boys can have their Mum and Dad for as long as possible," the Givealittle page asked.
As of Friday 3pm, more than $270,000 had been raised by nearly 5000 donors in just eight days. The goal was to reach $$315,000.
They were overwhelmed by the community's generosity, Brooke-Smith said.
"It's given us new hope and new lease of life to face the future that we're actually not going to be ruined financially by these medical expenses and that we can give our kids a future," he said.
They dream of travelling to Israel for a family holiday and lying on a beach together at a Pacific island. A friend had also offered them a campervan to explore the South Island, which they were looking forward to.
"We want to continue creating precious memories with the time we have left."
