Family mourn bee sting victim

By ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE

Good Samaritan Elaine Teddy died doing what she lived for - bringing help to others.

Yesterday, the 58-year-old Te Kaha mother of seven adult children was farewelled by hundreds, subdued under a hot sun.

After a last visit home, her coffin was laid to rest in a serene little cemetery by the sea, with surrounding pohutakawa in bloom and cows gently grazing nearby.

Her family and residents of the closeknit coastal community were still shocked at Mrs Teddy's sudden death after she was stung by bees while helping traffic accident victims.

"Every time she did her garden, she got stung,"said her grieving husband, Herbie. "She used to go inside and put a bit of vinegar on it."

The last time was different. The couple, married 39 years, heard the noise of a car crash late last Thursday night on a sharp bend of State Highway 35, close to their Maraetai Bay home.

"I said to mum, 'You ring 111 and you bloody well stay here'," her husband recalled. "But I knew she wouldn't."

Mr Teddy, who is chief of the Te Kaha Rural Fire Force, rushed to rally his volunteers and to get the smashed vehicles and their drivers off the road.

A car and a light truck had collided head-on, tipping beehives from the truck. Almost everyone at the scene of the accident was stung by the swarming bees.

Mr Teddy was hosing the road clean when he heard that his wife was in the ambulance. Told that she had been stung, he thought little of it.

The local doctor was working to reduce the swelling but could not reduce the swelling in her throat, and she was taken on a 90-minute drive to Whakatane Hospital.

"As soon as I parked the fire engine, I jumped in my wagon and, as far as I was concerned, I was going to bring her home," said Mr Teddy. "But she died on the way [to hospital]."

The family, including 20 grandchildren (another is expected soon), were left wondering how they would cope without their "backbone."

Mourners at the Tukaki Marae overlooking the ocean spoke of Mrs Teddy as a strong-minded woman always ready to help others.

"She growled a lot, but she was a lovely lady," said one. "We will miss her help around the place."

For her funeral, a dining room on the marae, on which both Mr and Mrs Teddy had worked for 12 months, was opened ahead of time.

Mr Teddy still has a lock of his wife's beautiful long black hair. She had it cut a few years ago because she thought it was causing headaches, he said, but the headaches continued.

They did not stop her helping with the family's rural delivery mail run, serving on the local rugby club committee, minding grandchildren and working at the kohanga reo.

The truck driver has been to pay his respects to the family and "was feeling pretty rotten," Mr Teddy said.

Not so welcome was a visit from the other driver involved in the accident, who may face charges after allegedly driving at speed in a stolen car after drinking.

One Te Kaha woman, Te Ruinga Nyman, believes there should be an education campaign about bee stings that may not at first cause an allergic reaction but can become serious after further stings.

She knows at least three people in the area who have suffered serious repercussions from stings. Her niece nearly died, and now carries an emergency kit for a rapid shot of adrenalin if she is stung again.

But the kits, which have an expiry date, cost $90 - far more, she says, than unemployed and low-income East Coast residents can afford.