A round of applause for these boys

Taini Wright lay on her front steps with a badly broken arm and bruised face and hoped someone would help her.

As she called out for help, two youngsters biking to Karamu High School heard her cries for help, threw down their bikes and rushed over.

Linkin Smith and John McLean (both 14) were her knights in shining armour, “her gorgeous boys”, as Mrs Wright, 89, says.

She was leaving her Hastings home on Monday morning (October 19) to wait for her ride with Enliven when she fell down the front steps. The wheels on her walker had slipped away and she had “spun around and around” and landed up on the ground. “I just couldn’t get up. I was calling out hoping someone would hear me.”

The boys were very worried when they saw her. One called an ambulance and sat with Mrs Wright while the other ran to get help from a neighbour.

“They held onto me; they even gave me a little kiss,” said Mrs Wright.

Her daughter and council's culture and heritage advisor Marama Laurenson was very impressed with the boys. “They sat with her, holding her hand and looking after her until the ambulance came. All the adults involved in helping here were very, very impressed with the boys’ maturity and decision making.”

The pair called into Mrs Wright’s home two days later, to see how she was faring.

“The boys wanted to see how she was. The really were knights in shining armour. These are our leaders of tomorrow, and I really hope they stay in touch,” said Mrs Laurenson.

It was extra special that the boys had followed up, visiting her to make sure she was alright, said Mrs Wright. “Their coming to see me was terrific. They really are gorgeous boys.”

4 October 2017

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