A Dunedin student is helping those living with cancer get to a better place.
CanTeen Otago branch vice-president Natalie Lagesse (18), of Dunedin, said her younger brother, Timothy, of Timaru, has Down syndrome and was diagnosed with cancer in 2012.
Her brother's cancer made her feel numb and she became depressed.
''I found myself in some very bad places.''
Miss Lagesse said she became a CanTeen member.
To be eligible, you had to be aged between 13 and 24 and have cancer, or like her, have a sibling with the disease.
CanTeen had 1500 members in New Zealand and about a fifth of these were siblings, she said.
Miss Lagesse said attending a CanTeen summer camp and being surrounded and supported by people with cancer in their lives was of considerable help to her recovery, she said.
''You would not recognise me from who I was a couple of years ago.''
Her brother, who is 16, was now in remission.
She would be collecting in Dunedin for the CanTeen national appeal tomorrow.
Miss Lagesse was appointed CanTeen Otago branch vice-president about two months ago and regularly worked with CanTeen board members in Auckland.
''I know the money goes to the right place because I help it go to the right place.
"I know I wouldn't be the same person without CanTeen and I know there are a lot of people who need it more than I do and we can't do what we do without funds.''
Miss Lagesse said she was in her first year of studying neuroscience, chemistry, French and food science at the University of Otago.
