Making a fundraising racquet for family

Playing 48 separate matches of squash back-to-back is Hannes Schoeman’s way of helping his father-in-law after a disastrous health diagnosis.

Hannes plans to be on court at the Marlborough Boys’ College squash courts for 24 hours from 7pm on Saturday November 8 until 7pm the following day to fundraise for his father-in-law Wayne Overstone, who has received a Chronic Lymphatic leukaemia diagnosis.

With Hannes having played squash since age 14, and after brainstorming ideas with wife Amy, he’s decided to undertake the marathon fundraising effort.

“We found out it was leukaemia a month or two ago now, and it’s been especially gutting as Wayne has been going to doctors saying something is wrong for the last few years. Eventually he put his foot down demanding more testing and got this news”, he says.

“As soon as we did more research, we found out only 10 to 15 out of 250 diagnoses each year in New Zealand are funded by the Government for treatment and that really started it all.”

Hannes says that to show the kind of man Wayne is, he set out on his own fundraising efforts to raise funds not for himself, but for national leukaemia research fundraising.

But with the assistance of the wider squash community alongside Hair Phoria, Aimee Photography, X-Potential Gym, Mitchell Sports, Meaters, CBD Eatery, Forrest Wines and Fat Tony’s, Hannes has had plenty of support and raffle prizes supplied already to benefit Wayne.

“The wider community from both clubs has been supremely supportive. With our fundraiser raffle having enough donated already we’re planning to have five prizes now to really share the love of some awesome prizes”, he says.

“I’m a member at Marlborough [squash club] in Stadium 2000, but keeping the whole facility open overnight was difficult and expensive logistically so we spoke with the Marlborough College Old Boys club and they were more than happy to support the cause and allow myself and supporters to use it throughout the night.

“We’re still a little shy of people coming to play, but with the club opening the bar as a fundraiser and raffles to enter I’m hoping it becomes a social event with a real purpose behind it.

“Squash has always been a sport of endurance, resilience, and determination, so playing it for 24 hours is my way of honouring Wayne’s fight, raising awareness, and bringing people together to support the cause.”

Book your slot to play Hannes or buy a raffle ticket at https://events.humanitix.com/24-hour-squash-marathon-for-wayne or donate at https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/24-hour-squash-marathon-for-leukemia