Car sits in driveway for ailing Nikita

ANENDRA SINGH
Every time former Flaxmere College student Nikita Karaitiana has a seizure it will add another year to realising her hope of obtaining a driver's licence.
But her mother, Selina Karaitiana, says Nikita's pride and joy - a little white 1992 car - will remain in their drive until Nikita can use it.
Speaking from Kaitangata last night, Selina told of how her "baby Nikita" - kicked in the head during a rugby match last month in Kaitangata - was admitted to Dunedin Hospital on Tuesday after another seizure. She went home on Wednesday.
"I'll never give up hope on my baby, never," Mrs Karaitiana said last night.
"I don't want anyone to say 'sell the car' because people think Nikita doesn't have much hope of driving again. Six months down the track, anything can happen."
Selina said she would drop seasonal work at a freezing works in Kaitangata, about 11km southeast of Balclutha, to look after her girl: "If it's a choice between my daughter's health and the job, then it'll always be my baby."
After working in the school holidays, Nikita bought the car in March and her parents were to pay for her driving test on her birthday - the day she was hurt in a game against Alhambra-Union.
"The hardest thing for me is how the whole thing felt for me as a mother. It's easy for the doctors to say I should be patient and let it go and everything will come right," said Mrs Karaitiana, before leaving the phone to check on Nikita.
The mother admits being "over-protective", watching every move in case of another seizure.
"Just yesterday she opened the car window and I got the fright of my life thinking she'd open the door. I now have to ensure the kiddie lock is always in place - for a 16-year-old."
Mrs Karaitiana describes herself as a "humble, caring" type who opens her door to school teams from Hastings, but said if Alhambra club officials turned up she would kick them out: "They looked so great in their burgundy suits out there but not one player has said anything to us," she said.
She had read that the club hoped to talk to them on July 10 in Dunedin when the teams clashed again but she said it was too far and too late.
However, the Otago Rugby Football Union and operations manager Des Smith had been "wonderful".
Shea thanked their relatives and friends in Hawke's Bayjim, and Flaxmere College, for their support and concern.