Getting on with it: 'She must have a spine of steel'

Ta'aloga Crichton. Photo / Getty Images

This is the first of six finalists in the Bell Tea/Herald on Sunday Getting On With It search for special, ordinary people.

Nominations for people who have rolled up their sleeves and just got on with it
have been rolling in and, starting today and over the next five weeks, we profile the finalists who win a year's supply of Bell Tea. The overall winner receives an iPad as well.

Ta'aloga Crichton
Ta'aloga Crichton has never expected acknowledgement for the years of work she has dedicated to others.

"I am speechless; I'm crying; I will definitely need a tea after this," said the 55-year-old Henderson local of her Getting on With It nomination.

For decades she has dedicated her life to looking after her eight children and helping the vulnerable in her community to access the support they need.

Through this time, she has battled illness, lived through the loss of her beloved husband and the death of a son who suffered from a severe form of muscular dystrophy.And she's done it all for the love of people and the glory of her God.

Crichton is the social services team leader at The Fono, a medical and community support clinic in Henderson.

She is a cancer survivor (she carries the BRCA1 and will be under treatment for the rest of her life) - she first had breast cancer in her 20s and again two years ago.

She has also had invasive treatment for pre-cancerous changes in her cervix.

But that's not all she's had to contend with recently. Last year, on the day she returned home from cancer treatment, husband William died in bed next to her.

They had been together since she was 18. She was sick, weak and grieving, yet still got up and went to work, day after day.

"When there were intolerable side effects from her chemotherapy, when workmates expected too much, when grief must have overwhelmed her; it must have taken a spine of steel each day to get up, dress up, show up and never, never give up," says her co-worker L'Ondine Tukuitonga.

Tukuitonga is a doctor at The Fono. She says Crichton's enduring strength, generosity and courage make her an ideal Getting on With It award recipient.

She explains that even at her lowest, Crichton was looking out for others.

"She still took her elderly neighbour to church. She arranged fundraising events for
the Breast Cancer Foundation.

And she found time to bring her family to visit my dying grandmother," she says.

Crichton finds it hard to accept such praise. She says the key to her strength is her trust in God."It's not me that has the strength; it comes from God's loving grace."

She cherishes being able to help families in her community.

"When I was raising children I didn't know what resources were available.

I love meeting families and helping them to move forward."

Her reaction to winning a year's supply of tea reflects the generosity of her spirit:

"It's so exciting; I'll have enough tea to share with the families I visit," she smiles.