Family of teen Drazei Kerehoma who died suddenly in Cook Islands start fundraiser for expenses

Drazei Kerehoma, 15, suddenly died in his sleep while on a family holiday in the Cook Islands. Now his family are raising funds to repatriate his body to NZ. Photo / Kerehoma family

The family of a Hawke’s Bay teen who died suddenly while holidaying in Rarotonga are aiming to raise $9000 to send his body to New Zealand.

Mary Kerehoma said her son, 15-year-old Drazei Kerehoma, was an active and healthy boy before he developed a cough on Wednesday last week.

The cough developed into a sore chest that Thursday, and he died in his sleep only hours later.

Mary Kerehoma’s cousin, Andrea Hemopo, set up a Givealittle page to raise money to cover the cost of repatriating the body and funeral expenses.

“Due to the sudden tragedy, our cousin [needs] help getting her beautiful son Drazei back to New Zealand ASAP,” she wrote.

“All koha received will go towards the cost of getting Drazei home to his whānau and funeral expenses.”

At 1pm on Thursday, just over $2000 of the $9000 goal had been donated.

Mary Kerehoma with a picture of her 15-year-old son Drazei Kerehoma, who died unexpectedly in his sleep in Rarotonga last week. Photo / Cook Islands News / Rashneel Prasad

Kerehoma told RNZ her son was always healthy, but developed a cough on Wednesday.

“That kid was never, ever sick,” she said earlier.

“[He was] just active, healthy, so that’s why it’s a real big shock to find out that could happen to a healthy person.”

She said at the time local doctors suspect the cause of death was likely related to blood clots.

She told Hawke’s Bay Today the New Zealand High Commissioner to the Cook Islands had reached out to her after a family member contacted them.

The New Zealand High Commission had offered “moral support”, “advice” or “guidance”, but not financial assistance.

“The high commissioner rang me today and said they cannot finance me to get my son home. They said the Government will not help,” Kerehoma said.

In a Facebook post shared on a Cook Islands holiday page, Mary thanked the local community for their support.

“I would like to share this post as an acknowledgement to the beautiful people in Rarotonga who have shared their love and support for the sudden loss of our boy on [May 2]. Please know from us, you are so appreciated. Meitaki maata,” she said.

“A special meitaki to our funeral director Leelash Chandar for his amazing preparation of our boy, and for his reassurance that our boy was in no pain and died peacefully in his sleep.”

The Cook Islands News reported Kerehoma and her new husband, Todd Bonner, who were married in Rarotonga in May last year, arrived on the island on April 24 for a three-week family holiday with Drazei and his two nephews.

“He was excited for the nephews … he was happy running around, playing, and it was not any different from any other day. He was doing the same activities, the same stuff as he did last year - swimming, kayaking, snorkelling, running around.

“Even more when he had his nephews, because the three of them are like brothers. There’s not much age gap between them,” Mary told the newspaper.

“There were no complaints about anything, any pain or anything until that last day.”