Farewell

Sadly, Andrew's melanoma mutated recently and the BRAF inhibitor drug he was taking lost its efficacy. After a short period of care at Auckland's Mercy Hospice, Andrew died at 8.03pm on Wednesday March 7th. Andrew's family were with him and he was peaceful. The hospice provided wonderful care and ensured Andrew was not in pain. He dictated his last blog post (entitled "Goodbye") on Friday afternoon.

Andrew was grateful and humbled by the assistance that was provided to him and his family through the past nine months. I know it helped ease his mind a great deal. Support from the trust fund enabled Patti to take leave from her part-time job so she could spend as much time as possible with Andrew in the past few months. While Andrew will not see his son Zeke start University next year or his beautiful daughter Xanthe grow up, I have assured him that people will continue to support Patti, Zeke and Xanthe in any way possible. Anyone who still wishes to make contributions to the trust is welcome to do so - please contact me for details.

Many people around the world will advance the groundbreaking biomedical research that Andrew played a leading role in. Those of you who are current/former students or staff of the Department of Engineering Science will know how much Andrew cared about the Department, and I am sure that a worthy legacy will be your continued support of the Department.

We have lost a valued friend, relative, mentor and colleague. I hope you all remember Andrew by doing some of the things he loved - whether that is a hard work out at the gym, hurtling down a ski slope, time with family, cutting edge research, or even nibbling on the odd bit of chocolate.

A service to celebrate Andrew’s life will be held at the Maclaurin Chapel, 18 Princes St, University of Auckland, at 10.30am Tuesday 13 March, to be followed by a private cremation.