Widow's mission of hope - BRUCE SAVED SO MANY LIVES

Prostate cancer has robbed Kristine of her soulmate, but the nurse is continuing her husband’s good work

- Cloe Willetts

This year, Kristine Hayward should’ve been renovating her home in Hamilton as planned with her husband Bruce, while enjoying retirement together after long careers as nurses.

But instead, the grandmother is helping men and their families affected by prostate cancer, as she knows all too well what it’s like to be left behind. Kristine has launched a petition for better prostate cancer testing in New Zealand after her partner of almost 50 years passed away from the disease two years ago.

“Bruce was diagnosed in New Plymouth Emergency Department because he was complaining of back pain. He’d always had back pain, since working at a hydro dam and saving a person from under a concrete bucket, which was about to be poured by a crane,” says Kristine, 67, speaking to the Weekly about the unexpected diagnosis in June 2018. “Bruce went and pushed him to the side and saved him, but his back was never the same.”

When the couple learnt Bruce’s back pain was in fact cancer that had metastasized to the bone, they were shocked.

“There were other symptoms including urinary frequency, but he’d been going to his GP over the years to have health checks including bloods for his PSA levels, while I did my usual breast and cervical screening,” shares the mum of Nicholas, 47, and Susan, 40. “We both really believed in good health checks, since we’re nurses.”