Hope through tragedy

SHANE WENZLICK/Eastern Courier

True fighter: Andy Bray with his recently-released biography.

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When Andy Bray told his life story he couldn’t have imagined he would have to add chapters about the death of his daughter in the Elim Christian College canyoning tragedy.

The Pakuranga resident and Family Life director had been encouraged to tell his story of overcoming obstacles and the book was ready for the printers in April when the tragedy took the life of his 16-year-old daughter Natasha and six others on a school trip at Tongariro National Park.

He decided his story wasn’t finished and that he needed to include chapters about Natasha.

"People would be looking for that part of the journey," he says. "It was therapeutic in some ways."

Mr Bray’s biography Treasures in the Darkness was released last week only after years of people telling him he should share his story of having his adventurous life derailed by health problems, enduring kidney failure, dialysis, cancer, transplant failure and stroke.

Even so he didn’t think his life was worthy of a book, but with 600 copies sold already there is more interest than he gave himself credit for.

While feeling nervous about releasing his story, he has been encouraged by positive reviews.

"To me it was an ordinary life full of struggles, I don’t see it as extraordinary," he says.

Mr Bray recently faced another hurdle in his efforts to get a new kidney after 18 years on dialysis when doctors told him the chances of a transplant being successful were slim.

He felt he couldn’t put someone else’s life in danger for a couple of good years.

"It pulled the rug out from under us."

But characteristically he remains optimistic and thankful for what he has.

"Medical advances are always on the go," Mr Bray says.

He is now on his dialysis machine seven days a week for three hours a day.

Mr Bray and his wife Nikki have helped to change many lives through Family Life, which was evident when more than $250,000 was raised to help pay medical expenses towards a transplant.

Mr Bray gives a lot of credit to Nikki.

"She’s an amazingly strong person, I’m so blessed to be married to her."

He says he had the book written as a life lesson for his children and would have wanted Natasha to read it.

One of the messages is to never quit, and to "make the most of the best and the least of the worst".

The biography began after Family Life sent an author from the United States to start the interview process in January 2006.

"We cried and laughed as she took copious notes," he says.

The author emailed chapters back to Mr Bray to make sure she had captured his story in a way that was his own.

It is a story that inspires people to maintain hope through tragedy and outlines the faith that got him through.

One reader told him they had laughed and cried and ordered 200 copies to give to others.

Mr Bray says the title of the book came from a bible passage that made an impression during one of his many hospital stays.

The words of the passage were "an amazing promise in a dark moment".

He decided not to focus on himself but those who were worse off than he was.

"My work at Family Life is woven through the book with the odd story of a marriage being turned around."

To purchase the book for $19.95 go to www.fami
lylife.org.nz.

- © Fairfax NZ News