Live Free winner shares heartwarming update on 11-year-old's cancer battle

Publish Date
Monday, 2 July 2018, 11:00AM

Earlier this year the winner of The Hits Live Free competition, Janine Whitehead, helped make a difference in one family’s life after she decided to pay her prize of living rent or mortgage free for a year forward.

Since then Janine has stayed in touch with The Hits, giving night show host Estelle updates on her co-worker Robin Davis' family – and his young son Reuben who was diagnosed with leukaemia last Christmas.

Over the past few months Reuben has been in and out of Starship Hospital in Auckland, and just last week received some good news from test results showing he is in morphological remission. However, the 11-year-old still has more treatments ahead of him over the next couple of months and years.

It seems Janine’s act of kindness has inspired others. After hearing the news that the family’s dog had become sick and sadly had to be put down - a very generous person decided to help bring a smile back to Reuben’s face. He and his family got to visit a police dog training centre ...

... and at the end of a treasure hunt, Reuben found a new puppy – Monty the miniature schnauzer!

Now Reuben will have someone to cuddle up to while he goes through his next round of treatment.

Along with the puppy surprise, donor Greg Munt and his mother Liz from One 50 Dreams Days also organised for Reuben and his siblings to experience a dream day of cruising around in Lamborghinis.

What’s more, a fundraiser to bring Reuben’s Nana back to New Zealand from Ireland has raised just over $6000. The 70-year-old had been working night shifts to save money for flights - but now she no longer has to worry about paying for them. She apparently was so excited about the news that she quit her job the very next day.

Our hearts go out to Reuben and his family. It is so amazing to see so many people giving generously where they can to help a family in need. If you would like to help support the Davis Family, you can visit their Give A Little page.

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