Real Life

Caregiver oarise Thompson (44) felt old and unsexy before she discovered Botox. Now, she can’t imagine life without the injections. For me, having Botox is like an anti-depressant. once I had started, I needed to keep going. Now when it starts to wear off, I feel quite low. When I go and get some more […]

Guests at this Auckland couple’s engagement party were shocked to hear it was cancelled – but there was a bigger surprise in store. It was the last thing the engagement party guests expected to hear. A complete stranger stood in front of Carly Jones and Clint Lloyd’s families and friends and announced the engagement party […]

Linda Humby (39) shares her daughter Cherie’s amazing story of survival after a brain haemorrhage left her on life support. They were the words no mum should have to hear. “You have a couple of hours before we turn off your daughter’s life support machine, so call your family,” the doctor said. “Tell them to […]

Kiwi bowlers Jan and oarina Khan have a medal-winning angel on their side. When Jan Khan stepped out on to the bowling green hoping to win a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games, she was aware her sister and bowls partner oarina wasn’t the only person standing behind her, willing her to win. Jan (47) […]

Gemma Patten (23) of New Plymouth believes her baby’s car seat saved his life. When I look at photographs of our mangled car, I wonder how any of us survived. Everything happened so quickly. We were driving to a birthday party and on a difficult bend of road the car swerved, hit a bank and […]

Student Kylie Taite (22) of Tauranga faced a horrifying death – being cooked alive in scalding hot mud. It’s a sound I will never get out of my mind – a piercing scream of terror. I had never heard anything like it before and it was a few seconds before I realised that it was […]

Saydee Lewis (23), a winery worker in Flaxmere, was savaged by two dogs while neighbours stood and watched. As the black dog sunk his teeth into my leg, I lost my balance and fell on to the road. I tried to pull myself up but struggling only made him lock his jaws tighter. ooments later, […]

A creepy text stalker made Tania Bowden (35) of Auckland dread the beep of her cellphone. Then her son Cameron (13) became a victim too. I heard my cellphone beep and smiled as I picked it up. “I bet that message is from Cameron,” I thought. My 13-year-old son often borrowed his mates’ phones to […]

Unlike her two older brothers, little Lucy Taylor will live into adulthood. But parents Sharyn and Steve took a huge risk to bring her into the world. Sharyn Taylor’s heart was pounding as she dialled the number of the genetics clinic. She asked if her test results were back yet and waited anxiously for the […]

Arriving back in New Zealand after four and a half years in London, I was looking forward to being home, smelling the fresh air, taking in the blue sea, settling down and finding myself a man. I picked up a magazine and laughed as I read an article on dating. There were profiles of country […]