NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

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 / New Zealand

Georgina Beyer, now ill with renal failure, wants to return to Carterton - dead or alive

By Emily Norman
Wairarapa Times-Age·
18 Oct, 2016 04:00 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

Georgina Beyer hopes she will get healthy enough to have a kidney transplant. File Photo / NZME

Georgina Beyer hopes she will get healthy enough to have a kidney transplant. File Photo / NZME

Chronically ill former Carterton mayor and Wairarapa MP Georgina Beyer has set her sights on returning to Wairarapa - dead or alive.

The world's first transsexual mayor has renal failure, and if she loses her health fight she plans to have her ashes scattered in Carterton.

The town has a special place in Beyer's heart, being the community that elected her to the mayoralty in 1995 at a time of ill-favoured societal judgment.

She was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure in 2013, then with heart disease this year.

"It isn't all a bed of roses," said Beyer, 58, speaking of the "tedious" five-hour dialysis sessions she endures thrice-weekly, which keep her alive.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Her dialysis treatment helps control her heart condition, cardiomyopathy, which has left her heart pumping blood at "only 22 per cent".

If her condition improves with dialysis, Beyer is hopeful that she will, one day, become eligible for a kidney transplant.

And a Carterton man has stepped forward to be her donor.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"What I'm trying to get back to health for is to be eligible again for a transplant," Beyer said. "If my donor is still willing and able.

"He's a Wairarapa person I might add - I won't give you his name because he wants a bit of privacy, but yeah - he's a chap from Carterton and a friend."

Beyer recalled when the man had asked to have lunch with her in Wellington last November, just before her birthday.

"He offered me his kidney and I just sat there and howled," she said. "It just blew me away."

Discover more

New Zealand|politics

Georgina Beyer on 'incredible shame'

17 Oct 04:09 AM

Beyer said until now she had not realised "how dire" the organ donation situation was in NZ.

"I know the organ donation thing is a bit fraught for people, but it saves lives, it certainly does, and it provides a quality of life for those a bit unfortunate," she said.

"It's one of the greatest gifts that anyone can offer, I think, if they feel so inclined."

Even though she was staying positive, Beyer said she was still considering "end-of-life issues" in case she died.

"I have left instructions that I want some of my ashes to be left in Carterton, but where exactly, I don't know yet."

If she pulls through her ill health, Beyer plans on moving back to Wairarapa.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Ever since I've moved over to Wellington, which was about 2010 or so, I've been wanting to go back to the Wairarapa.

"My 20 odd years of living in the Wairarapa was an amazing chunk of my life.

"The people there are so close to my heart, really."

Beyer was mayor of Carterton from 1995 until 2000.

At the 1999 general election, she was selected as the Labour Party's candidate for Wairarapa, and continued to serve as a member of Parliament until 2007 - her last term as a list MP.

She had once told Parliament she was a stallion that had become a gelding and then a mare (mayor), adding: "I suppose I do have to say that I have now found myself to become a member - so I have come full circle so to speak."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Beyer kept a close eye on this year's local body elections and was "always interested in Wairarapa goings on".

"Well done to Viv Napier for getting the South Wairarapa mayoralty," she said.

"The other alternative that I heard of, John Hayes ... I hope that kicked him in the butt there for a minute - thinking he can just waltz in."

Beyer said she "looked like a cyborg at the moment" because of her ongoing treatment - "doesn't it sound gruesome" - but was keen to visit Wairarapa in the new few weeks if her treatment schedule allowed.

Present mayor John Booth said Beyer was an amazing person who had brought a new way of looking at things to Carterton.

"She always made time to talk to the council yard staff," Booth said. "She could fly high with the eagles, but also sit down with the people at the coalface."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Wairarapa list MP and former Carterton mayor Ron Mark said Beyer's ill health was "tragic and unfair".

"We didn't agree on all things political, but one thing about Georgina, which she has shown on her track record as mayor of Carterton, is that she was not shy to raise matters which she thought were a concern to her community.

"She did well for Carterton and really lifted Carterton's profile for the time she was the mayor."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

Lawyer challenges 'plain wrong decision' in Jago's sexual abuse case

17 Jun 09:20 AM
New Zealand

Watch: Inside look after fire engulfs Auckland supermarket

17 Jun 08:15 AM
New Zealand|crime

Fit of rage: Man injures seven people in attack on partner, kids and neighbours

17 Jun 08:00 AM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Lawyer challenges 'plain wrong decision' in Jago's sexual abuse case

Lawyer challenges 'plain wrong decision' in Jago's sexual abuse case

17 Jun 09:20 AM

Former Act president's lawyer claims sentence was too harsh, calls for home detention.

Watch: Inside look after fire engulfs Auckland supermarket

Watch: Inside look after fire engulfs Auckland supermarket

17 Jun 08:15 AM
Fit of rage: Man injures seven people in attack on partner, kids and neighbours

Fit of rage: Man injures seven people in attack on partner, kids and neighbours

17 Jun 08:00 AM
Inside look: Damage revealed after fire engulfs Auckland supermarket

Inside look: Damage revealed after fire engulfs Auckland supermarket

Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

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
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • 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
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP