For Tyrell Archibald life was good, he had a loving wife Nyssa and beautiful twin daughters and was about to start building their dream home. Sadly, those dreams were shattered in 2012, when the 35 year old builder was diagnosed with Colorectal Cancer.
Tyrell had always loved his family’s fourth generation farm in Mahana and plans for a house had begun, but these were put on hold while he concentrated on fighting his illness.
In 2013, he hoped the cancer had been beaten and started building plans again, when in November, he suffered another setback, a perforated bowel. This resulted in him having to be fed through a tube for a year and building plans were again put aside.
At the end of November 2014, he was dealt the strongest of blows when he was told the cancer had returned and this time had spread to his lungs and prostate. The doctors advised it was terminal and he had six to nine months to live.
During this time, in a cruel twist of fate, tragedy struck the young family again, when his mother passed away suddenly and Nyssa’s mother passed away just after Christmas.
However, despite all of this, he had never given up on his dream of building his family a home, and his friends and family rallied around to make his dream become a reality.
“I always wanted to give the kids what I had growing up, if they have anything like I had they will enjoy it”, says Tyrell.
Friends Tony Riordan, Gary Blair, Louise Fry and Rebecca Anderson have been the driving force behind the scenes, fundraising and gathering support. They’ve organised various activities and started Project Archibald on the Givealittle website, which has raised over $35,000 for the cause.
“So many people have helped with this project on all levels, and people have been turning up to the site offering things such as materials, their time and baking”, says Tyrell.
All builders on site are donating their time for free and Tyrell’s best friend, Ben Robson, quit his job in Australia to work on the build for as long as it takes to complete. “It has been a very humbling experience, I have had a connection with most of the people helping in some way or another but didn’t really know them too well. I flatted with the scaffolder and there is another guy I went to school with, and they’ve all come together to help out.
Two of the builders used to be my apprentices and it is quite funny that they now think they are the bosses. The last thing I want people to think is that they have to work on the house, I hope they are enjoying it. I don’t want them to feel they have to do it”, says Tyrell.
Tyrell is still in control of the building project and the builders run everything by him first, but realise, that he may have to take a step back if his next bout of chemotherapy, which starts this week, has the same ill side-effects as his first bout.
“It has been my dream to build here for so long. I want to be hands-on and don’t want to sit down and watch it go up before my eyes. If I am sick and the chemo doesn’t give me a better quality of what life I have left, then there is no point in me doing it, if it prolongs my life by one or two more months that would be nice,” says Tyrell.
Even though he is not well and times are tough, Tyrell and his wife Nyssa still manage to tease each other and joke. He says that he wants the building process to ultimately be a happy and fun experience.
They hope the new house will be finished by the time winter kicks in and before the twins start at Mahana School in August.
The four year old girls are very excited about their new house and have been helping their dad on site, wearing their own builder aprons and hammering in nails. When asked what they love about their dad they both say “he is the best dad in the world because he takes us to the new house and buys us ice cream”.
If you would like to donate to Project Archibald visit www.givealittle.co.nz/cause/projectarchibald.
