My father, Dr Alan Evans, is the person who has had some of the biggest influences on how I came to be who I am.

He’s the person I strive to make proud, and I’m disappointed when I do things that I know he wouldn’t approve of. During university and up until I met Katy I had a very bad track record of keeping on top of finances and built up big debts, my father was the one who enabled me to move to NZ with a clean slate for which I will be eternally grateful.

I’m also aware that he makes me humble in everything he does. He’s off to Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe very soon to try to help them rebuild and improve their maternity care (he’s a Gyne-oncologist), so I’m proud but nervous for him.

I hope he knows how highly we love him and how much I hope to be even half the father he was to me and my brothers.

Also he’s great at bringing you back down to earth: I remember coming home from Uni one summer complaining of exams in the car home, he just had one thing to say… “Owen, today I told a 24 year old woman she had cancer and had a year to live. So bare in mind it could all be worse.” I quickly shut up and stoped whining.