Northern Advocate
  • Northern Advocate home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei
  • Kaipara
  • Mangawhai
  • Dargaville

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northern Advocate

Givealittle set to help Ahipara family raise $50,000 for mum's surgery

By Mikaela Collins
Reporter·Northern Advocate·
21 Apr, 2019 06:30 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Ahipara family Beau and Monique Dickins with their son Marlon, 18-months, and daughter Margo, five months. Photo/Supplied

Ahipara family Beau and Monique Dickins with their son Marlon, 18-months, and daughter Margo, five months. Photo/Supplied

Ahipara father Beau Dickins says finding out his wife Monique had a rapidly growing cancerous tumour in her lung was really hard.

But being told she needed surgery within two weeks and it would cost around $50,000 because Monique is not yet a New Zealand resident — that was overwhelming.

Now a Givealittle page has been set up to raise that money urgently.

"The fact we've got to deal with all of this and then we've got to source the money ourselves. It's very overwhelming," 28-year-old Dickins said.

The couple live in Ahipara with their two children Marlon, 18 months, and Margo, five months, but Monique, 25, is originally from the United Kingdom.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The pair met there in 2015 when Dickins was playing rugby in England.

"I met her at a bar. We hit things off pretty quickly and we didn't mess around."

They fell in love fast, Dickins said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

In 2017 the couple made the move back to New Zealand because Monique was pregnant with Marlon and Dickins was unable to get a visa to stay in the UK.

While here the pair married and Marlon was born.

Then Monique got homesick so the family went back to the UK for a couple of months.

But they moved back to Ahipara after Monique - who was pregnant with Margo - realised she wanted to raise her children in New Zealand.

Dickins said they have been here for about eight months now and Monique, who is on a temporary visa, was in the process of applying for residency.

In fact, it was when she went for a chest X-ray two months ago — which needed to be performed to check for tuberculosis as part of the application process — that something was first spotted.

"At first it was a shock but then they say it can be 10 different kind of things - they say it can be a shadow, it can be an infection in your lung, it can be pneumonia, it can be a tumour, it can be cancer. So at the time we were trying not to over think it, we were trying to be positive," Dickins said.

More investigation was required so Monique went for a CT scan, and then a PET scan in Auckland.

On Wednesday last week the couple received a call from a lung expert they had been dealing with who told them Monique had a rapidly growing cancerous tumour in her lung which required surgery within two weeks, and also that because Monique was not a resident they would need about $50,000 for surgery.

"It breaks your heart. I'm at home a lot because I've got to help with the kids because they're very close in age and it's very hard work. And then with that hanging over your head, who the hell can fork out $50,000? It just hits you like a curve ball."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Dickins said Ahipara was home for both himself and Monique, so having to pay $50,000 because she is not a New Zealand resident felt "wrong".

"I think it's a load of crap. We're a solid couple, I'm married to her, we've had two kids in New Zealand."

Dickins said on top of surgery costs they will have to pay for the time Monique spends in hospital recovering.

"People might say 'go back to the UK and do it' but we've got no house in the UK and Monique's mum is dealing with breast cancer so she can't help us."

Dickins said Monique was "pretty scared, but brave".

To help the family visit givealittle.co.nz/cause/2-weeks-to-raise-dollar50000-for-mon

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Northern Advocate

Northern Advocate

Northland businesses unite for CCTV initiative to combat crime

Northern Advocate

Two charged with neglect 10 years after 4yo's death in Kaikohe

Northern Advocate

Major water leak forces school closure for urgent repairs


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northern Advocate

Northland businesses unite for CCTV initiative to combat crime
Northern Advocate

Northland businesses unite for CCTV initiative to combat crime

Business groups in the Far North are uniting to enhance community safety.

17 Jul 04:00 AM
Two charged with neglect 10 years after 4yo's death in Kaikohe
Northern Advocate

Two charged with neglect 10 years after 4yo's death in Kaikohe

17 Jul 02:17 AM
Major water leak forces school closure for urgent repairs
Northern Advocate

Major water leak forces school closure for urgent repairs

17 Jul 01:26 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northern Advocate e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Northern Advocate
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northern Advocate
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP