A pill is all she
needs to achieve
her dreams
HANN
DEPEN
Bend t
TEXT: CLOE WILLETTS. PICTURES: HAGEN HOPKINS. HAIR & MAKE-UP: MIRANDA MILLEN. STYLING: AMANDA HARWARD. HANNA & MAREE WEAR COUNTRY ROAD, DERYN SCHMIDT, MAX, PAGANI, SEED HERITAGE.A
s Hanna Meates wraps
her tattooed limbs
around a pole and her
long, fiery curls fall
across her shoulders,
her slender torso holds the weight
of her balance.
It’s hard to believe this towering
1.82m former beauty contestant
and pole fitness enthusiast could
die at any moment, unless she can
access a new life-changing drug.
Hanna, 27, a Wellington-based
student teacher and self-described
“party animal”, suffers from cystic
fibrosis (CF), a genetic condition
affecting the digestive system
and lungs. Diagnosed as a newborn,
the trainee kindergarten teacher
is a carrier of two CF genes – one
that’s the most common and
another, the most uncommon.
As her devoted mum Maree
Davies-Meates attests, countless
hospital encounters and a daily
concoction of medication won’t
save her precious girl from the
disease, but one pill could.
“In 2012, Kalydeco was
introduced overseas, a drug that
could shut off Hanna’s symptoms
completely and turn her from
another CF death to a CF miracle!”
says Kapiti Coast-based Maree, 51.
“It improves the lives of those
with the most uncommon
CF mutation, like Hanna, and I’veReal life
34 Woman’s Day
Holding
on for dear
life: The
kindy teacher
keeps herself
strong
through pole
dancing.