The Grant Family - Gore
Cameron and Bronnie Grant live on a sheep and beef farm in the middle of the Hokonui Hills in Gore, a beautiful and rugged part of the country. Alongside their three children – Addie (15), Zoe (14) and their youngest Angus (12) – they have a busy life, working hard on the farm and enjoying family holidays to nearby Wanaka. “We’re lucky to have a fantastic support network around us,” Bronnie explains, “family is so important to us.”
For the Grants, everything changed on July 15th, 2024. Angus had been unwell with cold and flu symptoms for a couple of weeks; it was the school holidays, and while the rest of the family were busy scanning sheep, Angus lay curled up on the couch. “I sorted lunch and took Angus back to our GP for the third time,” Bronnie says, “I was in my gumboots and farm clothes – I thought it would just be a quick trip.”
The team at Gore Medical noticed some concerning symptoms in Angus: bruising on his legs, swollen glands, and a petechial rash, and sent them straight to Southland Hospital where Angus was examined further. Bronwyn, still in her gumboots, was told the news no parent is ever prepared to hear. Their beautiful, active, sport-loving boy had leukaemia. “I was lost for words, completely blindsided,” says Bronnie, “at that stage I’m not sure my mind even grasped the situation I was in.”
That night, Cameron rushed to Invercargill with the girls, and the next morning Angus and Bronnie were flown to Christchurch on a life flight. Ronald McDonald House had a room waiting for them. They had no idea what that meant - where it was, how to get there - and in that moment, it didn’t matter. “We were 100% consumed with our sick little boy and putting things in place for our two girls who stayed behind.”
Angus was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia - a rare and aggressive form of cancer. “It was hands down one of the worst days of our lives,” Bronwyn says, “having to look Angus in the eye and answer the question ‘am I going to die? Why me?’ – it was like a living hell.” Within days, Angus was undergoing intense chemotherapy, lumbar punctures, and surgeries under general anaesthetic. The treatment was gruelling. The emotional toll even more so. “The odds felt stacked against us with Angus having a rarer form of cancer. We learned to take each hour as it came. After six weeks in Christchurch, we were able to return home and have further treatment in Invercargill.” 
Six months into treatment, when hope had just begun to take hold, the family received the terrible news: Angus had relapsed. “It was the second worst day of our lives,” Bronnie says, “having to tell your son that we’re going back to Christchurch to face even worse treatment than he’d already endured was heartbreaking. Looking at the fear and uncertainty in your child’s eyes is something no parent should ever have to go through.” They were told that Angus’ chances of survival had now gone from 60% to 40%, and to have any chance he would need a bone marrow transplant. Their daughters were tested, and Zoe was confirmed as a 100% match for Angus; the transplant could begin in Auckland, at the national children’s hospital.
During this harrowing time the family found solace in Ronald McDonald House – both in Christchurch and Auckland. “It was an absolute godsend,” Bronnie says, “from a practical perspective, it offers everything you could want in this situation away from home. A room to sleep in, fresh linen, home-cooked meals and snacks, and a cup of tea with toast for breakfast: access to small comforts so that you can keep functioning for your child.” But it was the emotional support that gave them the strength to keep going on the toughest days. “The staff are amazing. They’re caring, responsive and intuitive; it’s a place of understanding and empathy. I honestly cannot express how much Ronald McDonald House has done for the wellbeing of our whole family.”
Bronnie remembers first turning up to Ronald McDonald House in Christchurch, on that awful day Angus was diagnosed. “Turning up on the doorstep of RMHC at 9pm at night in the dark, having had almost no sleep and beside ourselves with worry for Angus, we were welcomed with such warmth and reassured that we were going to be looked after. The feeling of relief knowing that we could just focus on Angus is hard to put into words, but it will stay with us for the rest of our lives. We were at our most vulnerable; our precious child’s life was in danger, and RMHC was right there beside us, so far from home.”
The Grants live almost eight hours’ drive from Christchurch and a flight away from Auckland, and Bronnie states that if RMHC NZ didn’t exist, the cost to the family financially, emotionally, and mentally would have been unbearable. “For a family with a sick child, RMHC is a lifeline. It’s a necessity, not a nice to have, and it’s vital that it can continue to support the families that need it.”
The support of Ronald McDonald House went beyond the practical. It gave the Grants a safe space to grieve when Angus’s Nana passed away just weeks before his transplant. It gave Angus the strength to speak at her funeral - a brave act for an 11-year-old already carrying so much.
It gave their daughters, Addi and Zoe, a chance to be close to their brother. When Zoe was confirmed as a 100% donor match, it gave Angus a chance at life.
And it gave the whole family a place where they were seen, supported, and never alone.
“Ronald McDonald House offers the connection to people during the hardest times you’ll ever face. We were constantly reminded that a trouble shared is a trouble halved, and RMHC enables you to take care of yourself so that you can be the hand holder, the back rubber, the voice of reason and 100% present and available to be your child’s advocate. When your world is turned completely upside down, and you can’t think straight, RMHC is there. It’s a place of trust of safety, knowing that when you’re there your family are looked after.”
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