Agnes | Māngere

“My church family, so I go to church, and I think going to church helped me a lot with my confidence, and how I treat other people nicely, and just learning about who you are as a person, and believing that you can do anything through Christ. 

I grew up all my life being a Christian, and I think being a Christian just helps you with daily life, and that’s my belief, that God is the centre of everything. So, if I put God first, then everything will come into place. If you just keep Christ in the centre, then everything will fall into place. Just believing that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. So, for me, I went through cancer, so I always knew that I wouldn’t be passed on, because there’s a lot of prophecies on my life that haven’t come to pass yet. So, I do believe that God can heal you. For me, as a believer, sorry I’m going to cry. 

It happened 2017. So, I went through chemo and radiation, throughout the whole year, and it was a hard time for me. I always knew that I would be fine. I always knew that everything would go fine, but then going through the treatment it kind of made me want to give up, but then I knew that there was always going to be a better outcome when I finished the treatment. It was a hard year for my family, too because we got to move house through the year, and just thinking back to it, it was so hard for my family. It didn’t just affect me, but also my family, and so I thank the people around me. That’s why I’m doing this, it’s why I decided to come to uni, to study, because I want to be able to give back, and want to be able to give back to the community that was helping me throughout the journey, and also for the Cancer Society. 

I’m studying teaching, primary school. So, I’m currently in my second year.So I hope to finish that and also get to visit other places and visit cancer kids. So, that’s my goal.

I was born and raised in Tonga, and then me and my family, we migrated here in 2008. So, I grew up most of my whole life in Tonga. Kind of half-half, Tonga and New Zealand. I value family a lot, and also myself. I’ve got to look after myself before others, and also I value other people too.”