Pictures: Hagen Hopkins.
Rangi-Arahina Renee Daniels had just finished delivering a speech about kotahitanga, the power of community, in a work meeting last year, when she suddenly felt excruciating pain in her head. Collapsing, the Wellington mum of five suffered a seizure in front of her colleagues, including a doctor, who frantically phoned for an ambulance.
Terrifyingly, a small brain aneurysm Rangi-Arahina was diagnosed with seven months prior had ruptured, leaving her on the brink of death.
“I don’t remember doing a speech,” says Rangi-Arahina, 44. “I recall sitting down afterwards and having the most intense pain come into my head out of nowhere. It was sudden and felt like someone hit me with a bat, then lights out and I dropped.”
Miraculously, since being rushed to Wellington Hospital on 25 July 2024, Waikato-raised Rangi-Arahina, who’s the pou ārahi (cultural leader) for Wellington depression recovery centre Whakamātūtū i te rau Kōmingomingo, has made a full recovery – despite undergoing two dangerous, invasive brain operations and being in an induced coma for a month.
“I remember waking for a couple of seconds in hospital, disoriented and seeing my colleagues crying,” shares Rangi-Arahina. Her children, aged between 25 and 14, were in Auckland and Waikato.
“They aren’t Māori, but they know I love anything te ao Māori. So, they asked, ‘Would you like us to sing you a waiata?’ and I nodded. Their singing was beautiful and just what I needed because I didn’t have my family there then.”
Nurses wheeled Rangi-Arahina into an operating theatre for immediate surgery to stop the bleeding. Meanwhile, others called her Waikato-based mother and advised her to get to Wellington fast. Rangi-Arahina’s children also drove to be at her bedside, since specialists believed she likely wouldn’t survive.
Although Rangi-Arahina did make it through the almost-seven-hour surgery, which involved clamping the aneurysm using a coil, her brain began to swell overnight.
The following day, the neurosurgeons went in to stop the bleeding again. They warned her loved ones that if she did survive, there was a chance of permanent brain damage.
“Specialists didn’t think I’d live through the second surgery either,” says Rangi-Arahina, whose career background is in rongoā Māori (a traditional healing system), Māori leadership and governance roles. “But somehow I did. It was miracle after miracle!”
“I’m so grateful for my family, who flew in from around the country. And also to my friends and colleagues, who brought in food for everyone and are my community here.”
As she recovered in an induced coma, Rangi-Arahina – who is of Ngāti Korokī Kahukura, Ngāti Hauā and Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi descent – was surrounded by loved ones singing waiata
and doing karakia (prayer), as did her iwi back home.
“Apparently, I was asking my colleagues for rongoā Māori, so they found kawakawa balm and massaged me,” she smiles. “I believe it was all a large part of my recovery.”
During her time in hospital, the neurology team didn’t believe Rangi-Arahina would wake without permanent brain damage. But again, to their surprise, she defied the odds.
“Suddenly, the nurse walked in to find me up and out of bed, with sunglasses on,” she laughs. “I still wasn’t all there yet, but I was back.”
In September last year, doctors discharged Rangi-Arahina from hospital. She went home to sleep and recover, with her two eldest daughters there to help. She was only able to stay awake for a couple of hours at a time due to brain fatigue. However, each day, it became longer.
That same month, when Rangi-Arahina’s Waikato family asked her to attend the first event since her collapse, held at a marae in Wellington, it fell on her birthday. The determined mum went, soaking in a beautiful haka and waiata, before going into nature with other iwi from across New Zealand.
“It was for mana whenua iwi representatives from ecosanctuaries across Aotearoa. I went as a rep for my iwi Ngāti Korokī Kahukura,” she explains. “My family told me, ‘You don’t need to do anything, just go there’. I think they knew te ao Māori and te taiao nature are my healing spaces.”
Last November, Rangi returned to the work she loves at Whakamātūtū’s mental illness centre. There, she incorporates rongoā Māori, which has an emphasis on spiritual health and holistic practices.
She rests after busy days to prevent exhaustion and continues to improve her cognitive function by reading a lot, writing and participating in wānanga (Māori university). To Rangi-Arahina’s relief, a brain scan came back all clear in January.
“One of the greatest learnings I’ve had throughout this experience is to enjoy life and appreciate the people who are there for you,” she enthuses. “Life is a gift and I’m so grateful to be here.”
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