A Kiwi with terminal cancer has returned to New Zealand to say goodbye to her home and family after desperately waiting for the opening of the trans-Tasman travel bubble.
Hayley Eldridge, 30, has a rare and aggressive form of head and neck cancer, giving her just months left to live. It is the second time she's been diagnosed with cancer.
Originally from Rangiora, she had moved to Melbourne, Australia where she has since lived with her husband Joel. Following the announcement a trans-Tasman bubble would commence in April, she and Joel jumped on a plane to New Zealand to see family.
Magic Talk host Ryan Bridge met with Eldridge and her family shortly after they arrived. She explains it came as an "absolute shock" to be told she was dying from cancer, given she was initially only tested for a hormonal issue.
"I wasn't even thinking I had cancer, let alone being told that I was going to die," she says. "It was something I just was not expecting. I didn't have one symptom, no signs or anything."
After her terminal diagnosis, Eldridge says many people have told her she's brave or resilient - a description which she rejects.
"It's not accurate. I'm not brave, I'm scared 24/7. I'm not resilient, I have no choice but to accept this fate... It's just about how I make the most of my life now, so I just choose to be happy."
She says she wanted to come back to New Zealand to give herself closure, even though her parents could've made the trip to Melbourne to see her.
"This is my happy place. There's nothing more calming than being in New Zealand, being around New Zealand people, it's peaceful. The older I get, the more I appreciate it," Eldridge says.
"I feel like I need closure. So whether that's taking Joel to my high school and just walking around my high school, or walking up and down the main street of Rangiora - just little things like that. So he can come back here one day and just be like this is Hayley, this was Hayley's life."
Her husband Joel says he finds it difficult to comprehend that she is going to die.
"I feel like it's not even happening, I haven't really thought about it. I'm focusing on just being with you and I'm so in denial. You watch, I'll bawl my eyes out tonight."
Eldridge counts herself lucky given she has "the man of [her] dreams" by her side and a "wonderful" family. Her dad Mark says she's even told him how blessed she feels.
"When this all came around about the second time, she had to phone me up and tell me, and she's like, 'Don't worry Dad, I'm the lucky one, you've got to put up with me going through this and then I'll be gone and you'll be having to deal with that sort of thing'," he says.
"It's just things like that that I find hard to comprehend."
Mark adds he deals with his daughter's diagnosis on a day-by-day basis, otherwise he'll "just be miserable".
"I've just got to think and take note that she's so happy. You look at her now and you wouldn't even think what's going on inside her."
Asked what life advice Aldridge has for everyone, she kept it simple.
"Every day is a good day, except some days are better than others. That would be my advice, to live by that, because it's true, every day is a good day."
