About the book
Jacquie Kidd, Ngāpuhi, has spent a lifetime standing with whānau Māori, who battle a health system designed for others and are twice as likely to die from cancer as Pākehā. Now sixty-two and facing her own terminal cancer diagnosis, Jacquie has written her story to better understand herself and her whakapapa, and to share what she’s discovered working with people who are dying after they’ve been diagnosed too late – most importantly, that a health and social system designed around whānau Māori allows everyone to flourish.
After struggling with her early education and dropping out of nursing school, Jacquie drew on the rage she felt at inequities in Aotearoa to make a second attempt at a nursing career and further study, eventually becoming a professor of Māori health in her fifties. In the end stage of her illness, Jacquie’s focus is on leaving behind a world where her students and mokopuna can thrive. A hope for something better for Aotearoa shines through the story she delivers with the honesty, humour, courage and drive for social justice that are the pou of her phenomenal life.
‘Words carving deep, intricate patterns of meaning. The compelling story of a Ngāpuhi kaimahi hauora who becomes the subject of her own inner research when she develops cancer that will end her life. A testament to the lessons of living so close to dying.’ Dr Hinemoa Elder, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kurī, Te Rarawa, Ngāi Takoto, Ngāpuhi nui tonu
‘Ngākaurua is a beautifully written, unputdownable and utterly engrossing memoir. I laughed out loud (and snorted) a few times and cried a few times more at this fierce, funny and candid testimony of a life lived with courage, wit and heart.’ Tania Roxborogh, Ngāti Porou
