One Hell of a family reunion gives Zion a special day out

Zion Masters and some of his cousins enjoying the special day out, thanks to Hell Pizza. Photo / Supplied

Hamilton boy Zion Masters is the type of son all parents crave. He's only 9 and plays an important role in caring for his 12-year-old sister Bailey, who has Pitt-Hopkins syndrome. Unfortunately, that means Zion doesn't always get the attention he needs.

Bailey is intellectually delayed and non-verbal, which means she is extremely dependent on her and Zion's mum, Elle. That takes up a lot of Elle's time. Luckily, she can count on Zion to help out when she needs it.

"Zion is a huge help in looking after his sister and has a special bond with her," says Elle. "However, he is struggling with the fact he sometimes doesn't get as much attention as Bailey, due to her requirements."

Zion helps Elle by cleaning up after his sister, getting her dressed when Elle is busy, making her breakfast and getting her to the car. In short, he's pretty much the perfect little-big brother.

Elle reached out to Hell Pizza's Satan's Little Helper programme because she thought Zion deserved to feel special, to be the centre of attention for once, and wanted him to have a day out in a low-stress environment.

The programme seeks to help those who need help or provide experiences they'd never normally get to experience. The pizza company totally agreed with Elle about how deserving Zion was.

"Selfless kids who do good things deserve to have good stuff happen to them, so we sent him and four companions to laser tag at Lilliputt Fun Zone," a spokesperson for Hell Pizza said.

It turned into a bit of a family reunion - before lockdown - as one cousin came from Christchurch, another from Tokoroa and a third from Whakatane to spend the day with Zion .

"There ended up being 13 of us. We invited friends and then Zion's uncles and cousins wanted to come as well. It was really good seeing them come from so far away. It was a good catch-up for everyone."

Zion says he was "10/10 excited to go" and ended up winning all three games they played and burned lots of energy running around the place.
"It made me and my friends feel really happy. Everyone had such a good time!"

Elle was really pleased with the weekend – it was the first time Zion spent time with his friends without his sister, and was exactly what she wanted.

"It was a special day," she says. "It was so good for him to know that he's got lots of family and friends who love him and that he means a lot to them, as they had to drive a few hours to get here."