Julia and Jason Tapp are leaving a legacy for their son Ezra by donating two airbrushed paintings for the Waihi St John Ambulance fundraising art auction.
Three-year-old Ezra had always had an attraction to water.
Just a momentary lapse, an open gate, and he was off - heading towards the Ohinemuri River.
The young autistic boy, pictured, who was unable to speak, was found in the water by his father Jason just a short time later.
Police officer Harley North was next on the scene and began CPR, with St John paramedics taking over shortly afterwards.
Ezra's mum Julia faced every parent's worse fear - realising they had lost a child.
"I was only brought down for the last 10 minutes before they stopped trying," she said.
"But even in that 10 minutes you could see how hard everyone was trying, and they did absolutely everything they could. When they stopped it was hard, but you could see that they had done everything and absolutely fought, and so had he, and so had we, but it just ..." her voice trails off.
Her memory is hazy about some things , about others it is pin sharp. And it is one of those memories that ultimately led to her decision to donate her artworks to the auction. "I'm no expert, but I know all that equipment costs a lot of money and to see them just take it all off and put it in a plastic sheet for the disposal bin.
I thought about it afterwards and, not that it's about money, but for every callout they do they give so much not only emotionally, but financially, to each patient and we don't have a lot to give back - we don't have money to donate that would really make a difference, so I suppose in a situation like that you contribute your skills and what you've got."
Jason adds: "You give what you have. I'm donating the PA for the art auction and I'm singing there as well." From the moment the paramedics arrived, there was an admiration for them.
"They came down the hill and everything was so professional, everything was done so incredibly quickly, and they were so respectful of him - it was very sad that he didn't make it, but man they tried," says Jason.
"When he did pass away, you could really see in the face of the paramedics and the police just how much it affected them and they didn't know him before that moment."
The tragedy hit the community hard and some of the staff involved struggled to come to terms with what had happened.
While their grief is still at times overwhelming, the couple are coping. Julia is expecting a baby in August, and as a couple they have become closer and stronger.
"We have had friends who have lost children before and so many marriages and relationships break up and we made a conscious decision - a pact - and said 'this is going to make us stronger - it's not going to break us up'," says Julia.
"Besides that, I suppose like everything, you take one day as it comes and you remember that if today seems awful and the worst it can get, then tomorrow can only be better."
Famous Faces
The two paintings Julia has donated to the auction are airbrush portraits of Colin Meads and Tiki Taane.
Both have been autographed by their subjects.
"They were always meant for a charity anyway. I hadn't chosen the charity yet ... I painted two and they were both autographed and one got donated to charity on the spot. The others were going to be part of a Kiwi icons collection I was going to do ... and then auction off the paintings for a chosen charity.
"I had a few more celebrities lined up, but Ezra passed away so I had to cancel those paintings and when I saw that St John was doing a fundraiser, I thought, 'right, well, I've only got two, but there's my charity to donate to'."
The auction will be held in September.
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