Auckland mother who lost eye to cancer chases costume design dream

Cancer took Yvonne Hook’s left eye and also helped make her dreams come true.

Eleven years after being told the lump on her eyelid was cancer, the Auckland mum wants Kiwis to hear about a “positive cancer journey” and how living with what some saw as a disability had instead given her new purpose and determination to turn the hobby she loved into her dream job.

“You might not believe this, but I think my life has been better because of it. It’s taught me I can be really brave when I need to be.

“I’ve come out of my shell so much, and I’m a much stronger person,” Hook said of life since doctors discovered cancer that began in her sinuses had caused a mandarin-sized tumour to become wedged between her eye and brain.

The tumour had to go and - as Hook would discover after a 13-hour operation - so did her eye.

Doctors had warned the then 40-year-old before the life-saving surgery there was an 80% chance her eye would need to be removed, but it was still a shock.

“I woke up to find out that I lost my eye, which was quite traumatic. And leaving the hospital, that was very traumatic, because if you ever try walking around with one eye, it’s quite frightening at first.”

The support of friends, family and colleagues after she lost her eye to cancer gave her a reason to move forward and get on with life, Yvonne Hook says. Photo / Michael Craig

But after radiotherapy, a couple of rounds of chemotherapy and recovery from multiple infections, Hook was back working in the classroom six months later.

The support from friends, family and colleagues were the motivation to “move forward and get on with it”, she said.

“These people are working so hard to make me feel better, so I thought I’m going to do everything I can to be better.”

Then a primary school teacher, a lesson on resilience saw Hook writing down the positives and negatives of her life-changing health challenge.

“There were, surprisingly, way more positives than negatives.”

Of course, it helped that she’d survived, the married mum-of-three said.

Now it was about thriving.

Yvonne Hook in her workspace at her home in Riverhead, Auckland, creating costumes for stage productions, ads and dance events.

In 2021 she quit teaching to start her own costume design business, The Costume Queen.

She’d long designed and made costumes, including for many school productions and her own kids’ dance events.

And she loved the creativity and problem-solving required to bring to life the outfits worn on stage.

“I don’t know if I would have started my business if I hadn’t had cancer, because it’s like: ‘Life’s too short - why don’t you just take the risk and do what makes you happy?’”

Unfortunately, costume design “doesn’t pay as well as I’d like”, so she worked a second, part-time job at two Auckland emporiums.

But around that job she’d done the costumes for productions ranging from Beauty and the Beast and Cats to Chess, High School Musical and Oliver!

While she’d worked for various schools, on KFC’s 50th anniversary TV ad and for former AM host and entertainer William Waiirua, most of her creations were for National Youth Theatre productions, including the 1500-costume Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in Auckland last month.

Yvonne Hook did costume design for The National Youth Theatre's production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in Auckland last month, with 1500 costumes required for the stage show. Photo / National Youth Theatre

The moment an actor put their costume on was special, she said.

“The costume just brings another level to their performance, it brings that character to life.”

While her designs had to link to the director’s vision, she liked to put her “own spin” on costumes as much as possible - and inspiration could come from anywhere, including the outfits of strangers.

“I wouldn’t want to copy an idea, but I do get a bit obsessed, especially when I’m costuming a show - I really look at what people are wearing quite intensely.”

Sometimes outfits had to stick to boring shades of black or grey, but by using layers, different textures of fabric, patterns or embossing they could be made more interesting.

Accessories also helped, Hook said.

“It’s not just about the outfit, but what else is going with it to portray that character.”

She knows difference is noticed, a good thing on stage, but not always off it.

Hook doesn’t like her prosthetic eye - because she doesn’t have an eye socket or lid it doesn’t sit right - and she hasn’t worn a patch for three years.

“I’m now ready for people to see what it is. It’s not pretty, but it’s my life.”

Look beyond the disability, says Yvonne Hook, who lost an eye to cancer. Photo / Michael Craig

She doesn’t see herself as disabled, and has adjusted to the stares and questions from strangers, but it was frustrating when some thought having only one eye made her deaf or dumb.

“I remember a lady at a bookshop was talking to me like I wasn’t fully there … like I was stupid, and she spoke really loudly.

“I just spoke the same way back to her, because I thought ‘I’ve only got one eye, I haven’t got one ear and I haven’t got half a brain’.”

She hoped her story would remind people a disability didn’t mean not living a full life.

Among normal activities Hook could still do was driving, albeit with a test each year, since the peripheral vision in her right eye had increased to compensate for the loss of its twin.

“I’m an advocate for people who are seen as disabled, but actually getting on with their lives”, the 51-year-old said.

“And yeah, I just stick up for myself a lot more now. I’m the one-eyed cancer survivor, and I’m not going to sit back and do nothing.

“I’m living the life that I love.”

Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.