“She looked at me and said ‘You’re crazy.’ I said, ‘I could be,’” Wayne Tarawhiti said. “We went over and congratulated the coaches and every player. They elevated their game that night because they knew that, if they could stop her, they had a chance.
The tough fight these days isn’t just during the biggest matches of the year for Kazna’s dad. Wayne has been diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), a rare cancer that prevents the body from producing enough healthy blood cells.
Around 12,000 people contract forms of MDS every year in the United States. Although Wayne Tarawhiti has slowed down since he had a bone marrow transplant in March, he’s a fixture at Pleasant Grove games.