A friend of the Whakatane nurse killed in a car crash in the weekend says she was one of only a few nurses who could handle the devastating aftermath of the White Island eruption.
Sheila Cheng died on Saturday when a car she was in collided with another near Lake Rotoiti in the Bay of Plenty. Five people were injured in the crash, including Cheng's husband Rhy Bugden, who is now in Waikato Hospital recovering.
Cheng was an intensive care unit nurse at Whakatane Hospital and was pivotal in the medical response to last week's Whakaari eruption, which killed at least 18 and injured more than 25 others.
The hospital was the first to treat victims rescued from the volcanic island and Cheng is said to have been front and centre during the response, according to her friend Amanda Lorin.
Lorin's father and daughter were also injured in the Saturday accident. She said her father had told her that Cheng had been "one of the few nurses who could actually handle the devastation from Whakaari".
"Not a lot of people could have been in the room with people to their extent, the amount of trauma that they had. Sheila was there. She was there and ready to give a helping hand," Lorin told Newshub on Wednesday.
Lorin said Cheng loved her job and was someone who was always focused on helping and caring for others.
Since Cheng's death, the friend said she has read countless comments and messages of sympathy from people the nurse had treated.
"There have been people who know her from her treating them in hospital. Even though they may have not have thought of her since then, they have still been impacted by her. She has left her love and her kindness and her caring nature upon everybody."
That will be her legacy, says Lorin. Love and kindness. She will forever remember how Cheng took her daughter under her wing "like her niece" and took the young girl on playdates.
"[Cheng] was so amazing... She is such a wonderful, bubbly, caring person. She would turn up at our house with little gifts. Very thoughtful.
"I just want everyone to know how amazing she was and how hard this is for everybody. If everyone can just be safe, as safe as they can, and not have to go through this themselves."
Lorin says her daughter is recovering from the crash, having been transported to Starship Hospital in Auckland in the aftermath.
"She is doing really good. She is recovering very well. She is doing better than the doctors expected her to, that's for sure."
Her mind has now shifted to what she can do to help Cheng and Bugden, who was initially in a coma and has had to undergo several surgeries to save his life.
"I am just really wanting to help Sheila and Rhys' family right now, now that I know my daughter's fine... my concern is with the family now."
Lorin says she hasn't been able to visit Bugden yet as she has been with her daughter, but hears he is devastated his wife is dead.
"He is heartbroken. Absolutely heartbroken... It is not an easy thing to have to deal with, especially after having to go through this recovery himself."
A GiveALittle has now been set up by Lorin with the money set to go towards Cheng's funeral and Bugden's medical costs. It's raised more than $2000 in less than two days.
A police investigation into the car crash is ongoing.
