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
  • What the Actual
  • 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

Fund which helps Northland home dialysis patients 'rapidly diminishing'

Northern Advocate
21 Jan, 2020 10:00 PM4 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

Jessie Cherrington, daughter Rayven-Rayne and partner Dillon Gavin are thankful for a fund helping patients on home dialysis. Photo / Supplied

Jessie Cherrington, daughter Rayven-Rayne and partner Dillon Gavin are thankful for a fund helping patients on home dialysis. Photo / Supplied

For Whangārei mum Jessie Cherrington, the ability to do kidney dialysis from home gives her a better quality of life.

She is able to choose when she uses the machine and do it all from the comfort of her own home - but it also means her power bill goes up.

However, Cherrington has received help with that thanks to the Contact Energy Renal Endowment Fund, which helps patients on home dialysis in Northland.

READ MORE:
• Northland GP calls for greater understanding of ethnic bias
• More equity for Māori promised in 'ground-breaking' shake-up of Northland health services
• Dr Tom's Northland talks looking at 'rural health crisis'

But that fund is running out, and Northland District Health Board (NDHB) is calling for new donations.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It started in 2009 with $28,000 grew to $38,000 and now there is only $1123 left.

"The fund has been helpful for our patients to maintain their independence and continue dialysis at home. It's a tough treatment, and there are many benefits to doing it at home," said NDHB renal social worker Anna Stewardson.

When Cherrington, now aged 24, was 13 she was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE).

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Because it can affect the skin, joints, kidney, brain and other organs she was told there was a possibility she would end up on dialysis.

However, no one expected it would only be eight years until she would have to spend three days a week - from 6.30am until 12.30pm - in hospital on dialysis.

A year later she was spending even more time in hospital.

In 2018 Cherrington and her partner Dillon Gavin's daughter Rayven-Rayne was born 11 weeks early, weighing just two pounds (about 900 grams).

Discover more

Tangiteroria residents to rebuild community hub after devastating fire

16 Jan 04:00 PM

Heat 'plays havoc' on kiwi and other birds in Northland

16 Jan 06:00 PM

Bay of Islands Music Festival condensed into one day

16 Jan 08:00 PM

Shane Reti: Many reasons for lack of GPs in Northland

23 Feb 10:00 PM

Cherrington was spreading herself between feeding Rayven and pumping milk in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and dialysing in the Renal Department, and Gavin had to quit a new job in Auckland because they wouldn't give him time off to support Cherrington.

"We spent three and a half weeks in Auckland Newborn Intensive Care Unit and then another eight weeks at Whangārei Hospital Special Care Baby Unit and fell pretty significantly behind on our bill payments," Gavin said.

But the couple made it through their ordeal and in September 2018 Cherrington began home dialysis.

It has made life much less complicated.

"Now I'll dialyse in the morning from 10am to 3 or 4pm if my mum or sister can come over and help with Rayven. Otherwise, I wait until Dillon comes home from work and do it in the afternoon," Cherrington said.

However, their power costs escalate to around $4 or $5 per day when Jessie is dialysing compared to $1 on the days she is not.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

While they receive some Government funding which goes towards power, they also received $500 from the Renal Endowment Fund which helped even more.

Stewardson said that fund helped fill gaps for many families.

"People who undergo constant medical treatment have 'out of pocket' expenses that are not always covered by Government subsidies, so this fund helps to fill these gaps."

Grants from the fund have now totalled about $26,767 and have been allocated for purposes ranging from buying a generator to prevent loss of dialysis during power cuts, to recliner chairs used during dialysis and contributions to power bills.

With the fund now "rapidly diminishing", the DHB and Northland Community Foundation are looking for organisations or individuals who would like to contribute so it can continue to support the renal patient community in Northland.

• If you would like to make a donation or receive more information please contact Greta at the Northland Community Foundation on 021 558 224 or email greta@northlandcommunityfoundation.org.nz

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

There are three dialysis centres in Northland, at Whangārei, Kawakawa and Kaitaia.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Northern Advocate

Northern Advocate

A labour of love: Family's green transformation of leaky city building

16 May 05:00 PM
Northern Advocate

'I'm a recidivist offender': Woman's journey from criminal to mentor

16 May 05:00 PM
Northern Advocate

'Radical change': Possible crayfish ban for Northland's east coast

16 May 05:00 PM

The Hire A Hubby hero turning handyman stereotypes on their head

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northern Advocate

A labour of love: Family's green transformation of leaky city building

A labour of love: Family's green transformation of leaky city building

16 May 05:00 PM

The green Vinery Lane renovation also includes transformation of the nearby carpark.

'I'm a recidivist offender': Woman's journey from criminal to mentor

'I'm a recidivist offender': Woman's journey from criminal to mentor

16 May 05:00 PM
'Radical change': Possible crayfish ban for Northland's east coast

'Radical change': Possible crayfish ban for Northland's east coast

16 May 05:00 PM
Vehicle dwellers spark tension at beachside community

Vehicle dwellers spark tension at beachside community

16 May 05:00 PM
Gold demand soars amid global turmoil
sponsored

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

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
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • 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