Musical marathon set to hit its target

Shaqaila Uelese playing the Hastings section of her piano marathon with Hastings Girls' High School students. Photo / Warren Buckland

Young Hawke's Bay woman Shaqaila Uelese has been moved by the support offered during her Piano Marathon for Cancer which will conclude at Cranford Hospice in Hastings early next month.

The Victoria University student is playing 24 hours of piano over six days at venues in Wellington, Levin, Palmerston North and Hastings to raise money for Cranford Hospice and Wellington Cancer Society.

The project was prompted after Miss Uelese's father lost his battle against multiple myeloma, a type of disease which affects just 1 per cent of people who have cancer. Miss Uelese played at the Hawke's Bay Opera House Plaza in Hastings last Saturday afternoon and managed to raise $1150 from her efforts playing for three hours.

In total she had raised about $4000 and was confident of making the $5000 goal she set when the project began in August.

"We had lots of people come down to the opera house to hear me play and we had a tribute hour for people who had lost loved ones to cancer.

"Some of the tributes we had were from people who had relatives who had passed away only a week earlier. We showed their photos on a big screen and had special messages. It drew in a lot of people and overall we had some travel from as far as Hamilton and Tauranga for the day."

Miss Uelese played contemporary music and a majority came from visitor requests. She had been surprised and inspired by the people who had come forward to volunteer to help with the project.

"In Hastings we had a lot of support from the students at Hastings Girls' High School, that's my old school and they had done a lot of fundraising before I played at the opera house.

"In Levin and Palmerston North we had good support and in Wellington, where I don't know a lot of people, we had support from university students. And it's been a really good feeling to have that support, from people I don't even know, come out and help."

The reaction meant a similar marathon was on the cards for next year but for the moment the focus was on completing the inaugural project.