Despite this, Te Amohaere lived life to the full, getting involved in Surf Life Saving and St John. She also competed in the Smokefreerockquest.
On Saturday, 12 representatives of Far North REAP's alternative education will take part in the Te Houtaewa ultra-marathon, from the Bluff to Ahipara, in dedication to Te Amohaere. The runners will be known as the Alt-Ed Soldiers and for many, it will be the first time they have run 62km, Mr Rudolph said.
But he said it was a fitting tribute for TA, who asked to be remembered without sorrow in a poem she wrote in the last week of her life.
"Death is nothing at all. I have only slipped away to the next room. I am I and you are you. Whatever we were to each other, that we still are," the poem reads.
"Call me by my old familiar name. Speak to me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference in your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
"Laugh as we always laughed, at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me. Pray for me. Let my name ever be the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without effect, without a trace of shadow on it.
"Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. There is absolute unbroken continuity. Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight.
"I am but waiting for you. For an interval. Somewhere, very near. Just around the corner.
"All is well."
