Hawke’s Bay pharmacy technician overwhelmed by support after home lost

She’s gone through tragedy after tragedy, we need to raise money and try and help her

A Hawke’s Bay pharmacy technician lost her home in Cyclone Gabrielle while recovering from cancer, but has been buoyed by community support.

Kate Davison has worked at Glenns Pharmacy in Taradale for six-and-a-half years. Initially a retail assistant, after COVID-19 hit she started training as a pharmacy technician – a job she loves.

After lunch on Monday 13 February, Mrs Davison said goodbye and hugged her workmates after her first half-day back on the job since mid-January. She works part time to cope with tiredness related to cancer treatment.

“It was very nice to see my workmates again,” she says. “They are a great bunch and I missed them.”

Little did she know her house would be flooded the following morning and she wouldn’t be able to return to work until 27 February.

The water rose rapidly at her Crownthorpe home on 14 February. Her husband, Grant, was at work and 19-year-old twins Nicholas and Kayla studying at Otago University, so she was home alone. It was impossible to get out the door or the ranchslider, because she would have been swept away, so she climbed out a lounge window.

The family only moved into the home in April last year.

“It is rural but close to town, so is not isolated. It was our dream home, a bit of paradise,” Mrs Davison says.

The water got to 80cm inside and few possessions could be saved, apart from a few teddy bears and clothes. Crockery, glasses, plates and other things are in a basket and may be salvageable.

Volunteers helped with the clean-up. The house is not low lying nor in a valley and has never been flooded before, even during heavy rain last year. During the cyclone, surrounding creeks and streams flooded first, then the river behind the house rose and “finished us off”, says Mrs Davison.

Help out Kate Davison https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/rebuild-house-after-cyclone-gabrielle?ref=home&ref_code=donation_feed

It has been a tough six months. Diagnosed with breast cancer around August last year, she had surgery two weeks later followed by intensive radiotherapy in Palmerston North.

Mrs Davison returned to work just before Christmas but had to have her ovaries removed in mid-January. That surgery was followed by infections and complications meaning she only made it back to work the day before Cyclone Gabrielle hit.

The house had been a restful place for her to recover from cancer.

In the meantime, the Davisons are staying with family and have had lots of offers of accommodation. “It has just been amazing,” says Mrs Davison.

Glenns Pharmacy owner and pharmacist Rebekah Taylor set up a Givealittle page.

“She has gone through tragedy after tragedy, we need to raise money and try and help her,” Mrs Taylor tells Pharmacy Today.

The page is called Rebuilding life after Cancer and Cyclone Gabrielle and $6,720 has been raised at the time of publication. It will be used for temporary accommodation, bond, furniture, whiteware and other necessities. Mrs Taylor is “really touched” so many people have donated. She says there was already a housing crisis in Hawke’s Bay before the cyclone struck, with many beneficiaries living in motels.

Mrs Davison says the response to the Givealittle page has been “absolutely amazing”.

“I feel a bit ‘stink’ when there are so many people out there who are in need of help,” she adds. “The community support has been overwhelming.”