Surfers rally for Sumner mum's battle against melanoma

Vickie Hudson-Craig with husband Ryan and daughter Ruby.

Nearly 50 surfers will challenge the waves at dawn on Friday at Sumner Beach, undertaking a 36-hour surf relay to fundraise for a local woman's crucial cancer medication.

Since October 2020, Vickie Hudson-Craig, mum to six-year-old Ruby, has been living with metastatic melanoma, which has spread to her heart.

Her life-prolonging medication is not funded in New Zealand, so every month she and her husband Ryan Hudson-Craig have to find $5,500 to keep her alive.

Heart Surf, the official name of the event, will see the group of surfers take to the water in teams of two or three, for up to two hours at a time over the duration of the event which will finish at 3pm Saturday afternoon. 

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"Fighting cancer and having to pay for medication is hard, really hard but having friends arrange events like this and having the community jump in to support us really helps Ryan, Ruby and I find some happiness in the darkest moments” Vickie said.

Vickie has documented her powerful cancer journey at www.melanomaheart.co.nz, shedding light on the family’s struggle and the financial burden they face to keep her alive.

The surfing event was the creation of their friend Dr Hamish Reid.

"Although autumn is not the perfect time for a surf record in New Zealand, the fact that Vickie was having to reduce the dose of her medication because they were running out of money just doesn’t sit right with me,” Reid said.

“This was having an adverse effect on her health so we decided something must be done.

The situation this wonderful family find themselves in is heartbreaking, so whatever our local community can do to help, we’ll do it”. 

Jess Lynch, Sumner surfer and mum of two said, "I don't know Vickie personally but the situation she is in is so wildly unfair that I had to get involved with Heart Surf."

For more information on the event, or to donate visit the Heart Surf givealittle page at https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/heart-surf-sponsored-surf

While Heart Surf coincides with The Single Fin Mingle, the two events are not affiliated.Heart Surf is grateful to have the support of the local Sumner Coastguard. While every effort will be made to rise to the challenge and surf continuously for the 36 hours, the safety of our surfers is paramount and as such the event will be paused or cancelled if it is deemed unsafe to continue surfing.