Former table tennis champion Graham* shared his story of rallying back from homelessness, with support from Te Tāpui Atawhai, for our Spring fundraising appeal, which is now live.
As national table tennis champion, Graham travelled the world representing New Zealand in the sport he loved–Australia, Europe, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tahiti and even North Korea.
"One of my best memories was when Australia came here. The games were all live on TV. I won all my games and we beat them."
When he retired from competing, Graham turned to coaching, making his living as a full-time table tennis coach for many years.
Until 10 years ago, when he suffered his first cardiac arrest.
“Initially I was so sick. I was in and out of hospital for about two years. They'd let me out, then I'd have to go back in because of various complications. I developed pneumonia and kidney problems.”
Then came a diabetes diagnosis – the almost inevitable result, Graham says, of his irregular hours and long days as a coach."I'd work a lot of strange hours - after school, weekends. When I'd get home, I couldn't be bothered cooking. I was divorced and I had a really poor diet; I'd just eat fast food on the go."
“But the biggest thing that worried me now was shortness of breath. I couldn't walk more than four or five yards.”For a man who had been active all his life, it was devastating.
Too unwell to work, Graham was left with no income and unable to afford a home. The friendships he'd built through a lifetime in sporthelped him get through those first difficult years.
"I'm fortunate I've got a lot of good friends all over New Zealand who helped me a lot, both financially and spirit-wise. That kept me going when I wasn't going so well."
But there was only so long Graham could rely on the generosity of his friends. His complex medical needs tied him to Auckland, where he could access specialist hospital care. Despite being entitled to government housing support, navigating the unfamiliar system while managing serious illness proved too difficult. Eventually he found himself with nowhere to go.
"I was basically homeless for quite a few years. I'd stay in a motel for two or three days, because that was all I could afford. Then I'd have to sleep outside.”
"I'd go to places that were open 24 hours a day, where there were a lot of people around and lighting, so I felt relatively safe. I didn't sleep a lot.I'd stay awake pretty much all night and sleep during the day.”
“The uncertainty was really hard – I didn’t have any idea what to do, where to go for help, where you could get free food, anything like that."
The worst time was his first winter on the street.
“Sometimes someone would give me an extra coat. I'd just rug up and wander around — that kept me warm. I worried about hypothermia. It was even harder because quite a few of my ailments weren’t being treated - I had two strokes and a fractured back that weren’t picked up for a few months.”
Graham faced life on the street with the same tenacity he'd once brought to sport. “Once I’d survived the first few months in winter - despite the health I was in and my age - I knew I could keep going. I never lost hope.”
He found unexpected strength in the street community. "I get on quite well with most of the homeless people I meet. They helped to look after me."
And he gained a perspective he wishes more people shared: "A lot of people don't realise how close [to homelessness] they are. If they're middle-aged and they lose their job and can't get another one, within a month or two they could be in the same boat I was."
But no amount of mental resilience could make the street a safe place for Graham to manage complex, life-threatening health conditions. "Physically, I was a mess," Graham says. "In one month, I was in and out of Auckland Hospital about 20 times. Sometimes I'd feel okay, but a day or two later I'd be back again."
Everything changed when an outreach nurse from the Auckland City Mission – Te Tāpui Atawhai approached Graham on the street, encouraging him to come in for a hot meal, a shower and a change of clothes.
“I was just wandering down Hobson Street one day and one of the Mission nurses looked at me and said ‘Gee, you don’t look very good.’ And I said ‘Oh no, I’m alright.’ She said, ‘I don't think you are. Come with me. ’That’s where it all started, just a chance meeting.”
"I got a lucky break, and ever since then it's been onward and upward."
The Mission's Street to Home keyworkers were able to help Graham off the street immediately, into emergency accommodation, before supporting him to find a permanent home suited to his health needs.
"When I moved in, I felt both exhilaration and relief. And maybe a little disbelief, wondering how long can I actually stay here?Compared to where I'd been, it was like heaven! The best thing was having a place of my own. It made so much difference knowing I had somewhere I could go back to at any time,knowing I had food, and Icould sleep whenever I wanted.”
Now Graham can focus on what matters most – eating well and looking after his health. He’s cooking proper meals again, working his way through an Alison Holst cookbook he found in a Mission op shop. Fish pie is his favourite, bringing back memories of his childhood home: “We used to have fish pie followed by gingerbread cake on Fridays.”
His Street to Home keyworker continues to walk alongside him,supporting him to live well independently, and through the Mission’s Calder Health Centre he gets the medical care he needs to manage his health conditions.
Through table tennis, Graham learned to take life as it comes: "Sport taught me this: do the best you can and let the result take care of itself. Life's a bit like that — just do what you can, then don't worry about it, because it's all you can do, isn't it?"
He’s content with his life today.
"I feel great. I'm lucky I'm alive. I've got a lot of good friends. I follow sport, talk with my friends. I look after my diet, and that's made a big difference to my life. My health is unbelievably better, and I've really got to thank the Mission for that."
"Without the Mission, I'm pretty sure I'd be dead. I can't praise them highly enough for the support they've given me."
A huge thank you to Marcia and the Street to Home team for their help with this story
*name changed to protect privacy