A couple died of cancer within a week of each other, leaving two orphaned little girls; donations pour in from all over the world

A family tries to rebuild itself after the tragedy: two young sisters, aged 8 and 4, lost their parents to cancer within a week of each other. Expressions of solidarity and donations have poured in from all over the world to help the two children, now taken care of by their uncle and aunt.

Brain and breast cancers

Christchurch couple Nigel and Marjan Joyce died earlier this year of brain cancer and breast cancer. Marjan died just seven days after Nigel, leaving their two daughters orphaned.
Faced with this tragedy, John Joyce, Nigel’s older brother, and his wife Nikki made the decision to welcome the girls into their home in Auckland. Already parents of two sons who left for university, they resumed their role as full-time parents. “We never imagined this would happen,” John told the Herald. However, for him, the decision to take care of his brother’s daughters was “obvious”.

After 6 months of care, the terrible news

However, Marjan was able to resume her family life after an operation and six months of chemotherapy, and seemed to have recovered. But in February, she began suffering from migraines, visual disturbances and back pain. Doctors initially attributed these symptoms to stress, due to Nigel’s worsening health. “Nigel was dying at the time, and we knew he wasn’t going to come home again,” Nikki says.
At the end of April, Marjan’s health deteriorated suddenly, she could no longer get up. Taken to hospital, medical staff diagnosed a rare form of leptomeningeal cancer, with a disease that spreads to the tissues surrounding the brain and spinal cord.

$300,000 in donations from around the world

A few weeks later, Nigel and Marjan both succumbed to their cancers, leaving their children in the care of Nikki, who had to break the terrible news to them, assisted by hospital staff. “They didn’t even know that their father’s days were numbered. I had to tell them that both their parents were going to die,” Nikki confides.
Faced with the situation, a family friend, Angela Hawkins, launched a donation campaign, raising nearly $300,000. This global financial support, with donations from New York, the United Kingdom and Australia, now allows John and Nikki to devote themselves fully to the little girls.
The family settled in Auckland, near their relatives and the children’s grandparents. “We are still in the middle of mourning, but the girls know that they are surrounded by love and they are happy,” confides Nikki. John adds: “Thousands of people have supported us and we are incredibly grateful.”