Hastings teenager dies suddenly on holiday in Cook Islands

By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ

A teenager from Hawke’s Bay has died in his sleep during a family trip to Rarotonga.

Fifteen-year-old Drazei Kerehoma’s family is now preparing to bring his body back to their home in Hastings on Friday local time.

However, his mother Mary Kerehoma says the family has managed to fund only half the amount needed to repatriate her son.

Mary said she was given the invoice last night which needed to be paid by midnight on Thursday (Wednesday NZ time) in Rarotonga.

“We’re just panicking, we don’t know what to do,” she said.

“We’ve got family putting in money, little bits here and there, what they can afford but we’re nowhere near the amount at all.”

She is looking at setting up a Givealittle fundraising page to help cover the expenses.

The family does not have travel insurance.

Mary said her son was always healthy, but developed a cough on Wednesday.

“That kid was never, ever sick,” she said.

“[He was] just active, healthy so that’s why it’s a real big shock to find out that could happen to a healthy person.”

Her son developed a cough on Wednesday which stopped on Thursday, later that day he had a sore chest which the family thought was related to his cough.

She planned to take Drazei to the doctors the following day if he did not improve.

A few hours after he fell asleep Mary found him unresponsive, local doctors suspect the cause of death was likely from blood clots.

She said the New Zealand High Commission had not yet reached out to the family.

In a Facebook post shared on a Cook Islands holiday page, Mary thanked the local community for their support.

“I would like to share this post as an acknowledgement to the beautiful people in Rarotonga, who have shared their love and support for the sudden loss of our boy on the 2nd of May. Please know from us you are so appreciated, meitaki maata,” she said.

“A special meitaki to our funeral director Leelash Chandar for his amazing preparation of our boy. And for his reassurance that our boy was in no pain and died peacefully in his sleep.”

The Cook Islands News reported Kerehoma and her new husband, Todd Bonner, who were married in Rarotonga in May last year, arrived on the island on April 24 for a three-week family holiday with Drazei and his two nephews.

“He was excited for the nephews … he was happy running around, playing and it was not any different from any other day. He was doing the same activities, the same stuff as he did last year, swimming, kayaking, snorkelling, running around.

“Even more when he had his nephews because the three of them are like brothers, there’s not much age gap between them,” Mary told the newspaper.

“There were no complaints about anything, any pain or anything until that last day.”