March 28, 2023
Dion Christie is a 52 year old father of seven children and lives in Invercargill. He has a diagnosis of lung cancer.
Dion’s special wish was to take this two youngest boys, Ahorangi, 5 and Irirangi 3, to visit the family maraes in Whakatane and put their feet on the ground.
The family flew to Rotorua and were gifted accommodation at one of the Ronald McDonald houses, which was organised by the fantastic organisation Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC). Rotorua Community Hospice, CEO, Johnathon Hagger, kindly donated a shuttle to pick up Dion and his family and even had wonderful little gift packages for the two boys on their arrival, thanks to Sue and her team. They also dropped the family to the airport for their return flight home.
Along with their marae visits, the family including older son Jordan and wife Val had a fantastic time maxing out Rotorua’s finest holiday attractions!
A visit to Paradise Valley Springs allowed the group to enjoy the very best of nature and the boys even had the amazing opportunity to feed a lion cub, amazing! 
They also visited 3D Trick Art Gallery and had a great time which was captured by many photos to treasure 
They also visited 3D Trick Art Gallery and had a great time which was captured by many photos to treasure The generous team at Lone Star Rotorua treated the family to a delicious meal, where Shine and his team rolled out the red carpet to make the boys feel so welcome!
A trip to Rotorua is not complete without visiting Skyline Rotorua to experience the scenic gondola and loads of fast downhill fun on the exhilarating luge rides down. The friendly rivalry left on the luge track was picked up again later at the ten pin bowling alley thanks to the awesome Motion Entertainment Rotorua.
Polynesian Spa provided some wonderful down time for the family, where they soaked and enjoyed the warm water in this wonderful paradise.
BurgerFuel and Foodstuffs North Island kindly supplied vouchers so the family could have some tasty takeaways and stock up on supplies to keep the energy levels topped up and ready to go!
Dion’s wish was made possible by so many wonderful people, and other charitable organisations that came on board to ensure that Dion’s wish could be fulfilled.
Race4Life thanks all of these amazing people. Without the wholehearted willingness of these businesses to be part of this work, it simply would not happen 
