Real Life

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 […]

I have a problem with a colleague who is bullying me at work. They belittle me at every opportunity in front of our colleagues. I really need some advice on how to handle this situation as I am starting to dread going to work. It’s got so bad I’m even taking my frustrations out on […]

I popped the 32nd pill into my mouth and swallowed it. But it was only when I ended up in hospital that I began to realise the enormity of what I’d done. After being extremely ill, I started to come around and found my mother sitting beside me. Two drips had been inserted into one […]

The death of her obese friend Sharon Bishop has made Miranda Gray Taufa determined to slim down from a dangerous 229kg. If the 41-year-old from Gisborne doesn’t lose weight, she could die. Feeling my chest tighten, I sleepily felt around in the dark for my asthma pump. “I’m sure I had it next to me,” […]

Sarah-Kate Lynch learns to see animal prints as more than home furnishing Generally speaking, when it comes to travelling, my idea of adventure is to order full-fat milk instead of trim with my breakfast coffee. I always thought I was a Paris/London/New York sort of a girl. It’s not for me – all that bumping […]

Brave Maryse Dinan (24) of Hamilton said no to further cancer treatment in the hope that one day she’ll hold her own baby in her arms. She tells her story to New Zealand Woman’s Weekly. oy specialist smiled at me and said, “I think you’re one of the strongest people I’ve met.” I didn’t feel […]