Marie Jujnovich has spent 17 years helping young cardiac patients and their families. Photo / Brett Phibbs
A young mum and dad, proud as punch of their new family, get the horrific news their child needs heart surgery.
If they live outside Auckland, the news is worse still, as the country's only specialised paediatric cardiac ward is at the Starship hospital.
Away from the support
systems of family and friends, it can be a parent's most harrowing time. But it is a time "Nana" Marie Jujnovich tries to improve for the families by giving them her time and experience.
Her own grandchild was a victim of heart disease, and she can well remember the strain that placed on the family.
"And I said to my daughter as I left the hospital, 'The humility you learn from these little children, let's never forget it'.
"You see them going through so much and you realise how important it is to give them a lift along the way."
Mrs Jujnovich has been giving them a lift for 17 years now, and her work is essential, says Heart Children fundraising manager Iyanthi Wijayanayake.
"That emotional support that Marie gives, when a family needs her to put her arm around them and have a chat with them, it's just amazing.
"She's been absolutely awesome and absolutely valuable. Being a charity, we can't really afford to have a paid person up there doing what Marie's doing."
Mrs Jujnovich said her heart was constantly touched by the children she saw at the hospital, despite the seemingly morose environment.
"People will say to me, 'How can you sit with sick and dying children all day?' And I think, 'How can't I?' You can't walk away. There is an amazing part of these children - heart children are special children.
"So I choose to be available. It's just a way of life for me now. And I'm definitely not going to stop any time soon. I can't see that at all. While there is somebody who needs me, I'll be there."
