29 December 2021
Mihi mai ki a Rosemary Rangitauira, he uri nō Ngāti Manawa me Ngāti Whare.
She’s one of Dr Bernard Conlon patients and has primarily been under the Murupara Medical Centre for nearly 30 years.
“There are very few medical practitioners in the world who are like Dr Conlon. He reminds me of a tohunga in search of rongoā (medicine) to heal his patients.”
“I’m grateful to Dr Conlon because he’s looked after generations of my whānau including my kaumātua (grandparents) like our Nanny Taima. Although she lost her battle in 2002 to cancer at the age of 80, I can’t thank Dr Conlon enough for all he did for her during that time and for explaining the options of care for her, like chemotherapy which our Nan opted not to undertake because of her age.”
Among moments of appreciation, Rosemary is thankful that her grandmother, Taima, known by her friends as Mac – short for Makarena, survived meningococcal in the 1990s.
“Dr Conlon is a pou tokomanawa (a guardian). I remember standing in the hospital as a teenager looking at Nan in an isolation ward as I watched a nurse fully dressed in white protective gear checking on Nan and giving her medicine.”
She says her grandmother pulled through because of the quick-wit of their GP.
“We didn’t know what meningococcal was then and how life-threatening it was. I know because of Dr Conlon’s investigative nous, we got to spend more time with our beautiful Nan. My Nan’s memory of thanks to you, Dr Conlon, is imprinted in my memory. This is just one of the most treasured memories of thanks I have of you, Dr Conlon.”
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