Lynnette | Māngere Bridge.

“I’m being healed. Every time I make an effort I am being healed. My goal is to be healed completely with my stroke, and I just love this area down here, because everybody encourages me, and the community is wonderful. They support me in so many different ways which helps me to recover, and I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without the community around me.

I grew up in the West, I was born in Westmere, Auckland and I was from a dysfunctional family. So I’ve had to overcome quite a lot, and I went down and lived as a rebellious teenager, I went down to Wellington to live, got married down there. Unfortunately that marriage did not work. I’ve since married a man up here in Auckland, when I came up about 40 years ago and we have been happily married for 30 years now. I have got two children, my husband has got two children. Sadly so many are now overseas, and we do not have that community of family like some people have. Yes, it’s the way technology goes now. You’re relying, your family is actually your friends and your neighbours now. It’s a very sad thing that’s happened.

I’m a very strong believer in Jesus helping me do whatever I do. My faith is very strong in my life, and so if I can help anybody along the way while I’m doing my journey, then that’s really important to me. If I can make another person’s life better, then I know that what I am doing is a very good thing. So that is my goal really, to recover fully completely, and I’m depending on Jesus for that and, and being able to do what I can for others as I do that journey. So that’s my goal for this year, I have got a picture, I’ve got a photo on every wall in every room of my house, it’s Māngere Mountain, and I have got the words underneath which says; He raises me up to walk on mountains. I actually believe that one day I’ll be walking up Māngere Mountain again.

My relationship with Jesus is very strong. I had a word from Him saying that when I went over to Europe to see my son and his little child, because they were going, he was going to be baptised, and I heard the Lord say to me that something was going to be happening that was life-changing, and it was to do with heights. So I was quite excited on that trip, on that plane trip over there I was thinking, I wonder what’s going to happen over there. Anyway, I was there for one and half hours. I’d gone across to France to the family home where the child was to be baptised, and someone said, would you like to go for a walk, and being a walking group member here in Māngere Bridge I was all for it. I wanted to walk up the lower slopes of the mountains, and sadly that’s where I had my stroke.

We were walking through the lower slopes of the forest, and I was thinking, there was four of us, and I was thinking, why do I find it so hard to walk up here when I’m used to walking up the steps of our own mountain here and, and I’m feeling like something is funny? Anyway, I had my stroke up there. They had awhile to find me with the helicopter because it was the lower slopes and there was lots of trees, so it was awhile getting to hospital. I was there for one month in a French hospital. I had a wonderful time with my family in that short time I was there. They brought the child to the hospital. I got lots of cuddles, but mine was quite a bad stroke.

I ended up in Middlemore when I got back to New Zealand eventually, and then I was to be discharged a total of four to five months, and then I fell when my husband was coming to pick me on discharge. I fell in the ward and I broke my hip, so I had to stay a bit longer. I’ve had a lot of things to overcome, but it’s been a real faith journey, and honestly I’ve felt the love of so many people. After my fall in the ward they found I had cancer on one of the x-rays. If I hadn’t have fallen in the ward they would never have found it, because there was no pain attached to it. So they chopped the top of my arm off. So that is also very good because they caught it in time, and I’ve not got any cancer left in my body. Then the next thing that happened was that I had a home invasion. It was about two months after the operation, they beat me up and left me there. Locked me in and then burgled my house, but since then there’s been nothing like that has happened and I am just rejoicing in my life.

I’ve made a flyer. The flyer’s attached to the notice board here on my left. I’ve just finished it, and it’s hung up. The aim is for walking for fitness, for friendship and just to get out with a group and socialise and meet other people. We have coffee afterwards. For those of us that lose the calories, we put them on again with a coffee. Then we have split off groups from that. Some of us play rummy up at the bowling club. Some of us, not me, go on cruises together. So it breaks off into little groups as well. We’re over 40 members. We are the biggest walking group in South Auckland and it was started with Derek around about the 2001. I started 2004, but it’s a wonderful group. All ages, all paces and, and you can walk whatever pace you want, as long as, we try to do an hour, but obviously if you’re not used to walking you need to do shorter times to start with, but no, it’s a lovely group. Huge amount of various, different characters in it.”

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