Greg’s golf bucket list

 Continued from p1

He has 49 courses left to play in the country and says he isn’t going anywhere until they’re all ticked off the list.

Holmes says he’s never, much to his wife’s dismay, asked how long he has left to live because he doesn’t want to live to a timeline.

“I just want to keep going until I physically can’t keep going anymore,” he says.

After his terminal diagnosis, Holmes started taking publiclyfunded chemotherapy once again, but after it wasn’t working, he was advised to go to a private one to keep him going.

Private chemotherapy isn’t funded in New Zealand as it is in just about every other developed country in the world, which means Holmes is paying around $2500 per week for the treatment.

“Luckily, we aren’t on bones, but it is still a lot of money which is not helping with what I leave behind for my family,” he says.

In order to fund this treatment

Carmen and Holmer work fulltime, after hours and on weekends.

Carmen manages and works at the Apothecary Licensed Eatery and Daisy Chang, while Holmer (or Detective Senior Sergeant Holmes) is the National Clan Lab Manager for the NZ Police.

CRYPTIC

Holmes says after this diagnosis an amazing group of people donated around $50,000 to one of his friends to help contribute towards treatment. “Not one of them has ever told me who they are and never wanted thanks for it,” he says.

“You don’t realise how important friends are until stuff like this happens to you. If I didn’t have the mates that I do then I would be sitting around home and going into dark places, feeling sorry for myself.”

Holmes says he tries to keep his days occupied, despite fortnightly chemotherapy treatment which limits his abilities for the few days following. “If I can play a round where it gives me four hours to focus on how bad at golf I am, I would much rather prefer that than sitting at home and thinking about cancer,” he says.

On December 12 last year, Holmer and his friends took on the ‘longest day’ challenge at Whitford Golf Club, a golfing endurance event which tests skills and stamina over 72 holes in one day to raise funds for the Cancer Society.

Holmes and his team raised more than $21,000 for the foundation and for a long time had raised the most in the country. He refused to ride in a golf cart and walked the 72 holes

1. It’s sunk in that it’s full of jobless (9-4).

8. An actor and more (5).

9. Friends one’s got in high places (7).

10. A lot of gold buried in a bog (6).

11. Read about a certain record making a comeback (6).

12. With which you won’t dig up a diamond? (5).

14. It’s Australia, I do declare! (5).

18. The Inhabitant at the time: one of the workers (6).

20. Shilly-shally about taking one to the doctor (6).

23. Is to order one to be thrown out for being offensive (7).

24. See the chaps about getting something to eat (5).

25. Vent your fury on the floor? (5,4,4).

Down

1. Imagines the mothers will provide protection for, again (6).

2. A safe name for a boy (5).

3. Passed Mr. White coming back (7).

4. The sons and father climbed in, the fools! (4).

5. Dig deep down and in the river find fifty-five (5).

6. Tell you about Dracula? (7).

7. The passages are fine: less in need of alteration (6).

13. Writes one on accommodation in France (7).

15. Succeed in going, at three miles an hour, round the bend (7).

16. What the fruit canner did when drunk? (6).

17. About a quarter what it costs to get a title (6).

19. A loop, or ring, through the snout (5).

21. Did Henry master the game? (5).

22. The half back is hemming me in (4).

Sudoku

from start to finish, totalling more than 30km in less than 12 hours.

“It was probably my highlight of the year to be honest. Towards the end it was very emotional and incredibly humbling, a huge sense of achievement while being around a great group of people,” Holmes says.

He says one of the big positives to come out of his cancer journey is that he has motivated people around him to do things while they can. “It is said so often but you just don’t know what is around the corner and I just try to make the most of it...that’s what life is all about,” he says.

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Holmes says he is beyond grateful for all the support that his friends have provided him with but it is his wife and two boys, Ben and Tom, that keep him going.

“I truly consider myself to be the luckiest man in the world being married for 31 years to the most beautiful, strong and caring person there is. Without her by my side I know my journey would have ended years ago,” he says.

“I’ve been dealt the hand and, as I’ve always said, you have two options; feel sorry for yourself or get on with it and I’ve chosen the latter to the best of my ability,” says Holmes.

35,000 visitors online for Times story

Our news has always been our strength and we know that our stories are well read in print. Now with Times Online, we can measure what stories are well read and how many people read them. This is measured by Google analytics. Two weeks ago, our front page story about the former Howick church minister jailed over the death from neglect of her child, reached more than 35,000 readers online.

Top stories would normally attract around 3000-5000 visits. “We know the paper is well-read but this, for online, is huge,” Times Media managing director Reay Neben said.

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