An emotlona
As commanderof the lllawarraPolice
RescueUnit,Sgt ManiiVerzosawas
usedto playingthe roleof saviour.So
after his partnerandsondiedin
childbirth,wherecouldhe turn?
WILLIAMVERITYdiscoversthat life's
darkestmomentscanproducethe
strongestbonds.
Karen Thorn (aboveand below) Manii
Verzosa'soartnel who died in childbirth.
6 WEEKENDER
Saturday, May 29, 201O
ITWAS NOT UNTILAFTTR BOTH
mother and baby had died that the
diarywas discovered.
Hidden in the baby's room tvas the
secret diary that Kilen had kept
tfuoughout the nine months of her
pregnancy with Keoki, the boy his father
had ca.lled "Linle Cashew".
On the first page rvas a message fiom
mother to unbom child:
"To my "Little Qshew" - asyoltr
dafuly namedyou after thefint
ultr^owd at eiglrt utek.
"You uere so cute, ard as big6 a
casltetLtttttt.
"lIn keepittgthisjounnlfortou so
ltott cart read it ttltettyou are okl
etrcugh. It is sometling I uottld haue
loued nty ,rnrn to dofor nrc, so I lnpe
),ou like it.
"l louetlyou front the rnontent I knew
you uere groruing itsid.e nte and I will
cortrirute to loreyou wttil I die atd
bq'ottd - Mtntnryxt"
Boxing Day, 2006.The day thar
everything chmged for the father -
MmiiVezosa, commder of the
Illawam Police RescueSquad.
rlt
It was early moming on Chrismnas Day
and Vezosa md his parmer, Karen
Thom, had already swum in the ocean
offBelrnore Brin.
It i6 a biB day for both of them.
lfuren was heavily pregnant md
overdue to give birth to their miRcle
son, Keoki-
Only a few hours now before she was
due at the matemityward of
WollongongHospital to be induced.
But fint, the cluple had a date at the
W6ley Uniting Chuch, seruing
Christrnas lunch for the nedy.
The wayVezosa chose ro spend thar
fina.ldavwith Xuen savsmuch about
uemm.
As commmder of the lllalvam Police
RescueSquad since rhe etrly 1990s,("1
prefer savingpeople to mesting them")
Vezosa is an intenselyphysical man, a
mil with strong values, both generous
and passionate.A man with a big heart.
Of Hawaiim backgromd md
speaking with a gentle American
accent, Ns arms and legs are heavily
marked rvith the nibal ranoos ofhis
Islander herilage.
He had met Kilen - then knorm ro
Iiren Carvley - ar )mberoo Public
School a couple ofyeus eulier, u'hen
he had anived to shorv the police rescue
truck to herkinderganen cl6s.
For him, it rvm love ar fimr sight.
"She r\as complete for me in every
way," Verzosasaid.
"She rvas kind, she rvasatnacdve md
she loved kids.
"She rvas so focused on ha\.ing a chi.ld
herself, because she had had
complications before md thought she
would not be able to.
"As fil 6 I m concemed, she wro as
complete a rvoman c my man could
wet.
"She nas my inspiration and the love
of my life- I have nothing but fun, fun,
fun ud sacred memories of her.
"To teu the mr&, I m1 at a loss now
bmause myone who coms along nou,
wont compile."
Be€use, 12 hous afterbooking in to
the matemity unit, both she and Keoh
were dead.
Veuos, now 52, hro to pause several
times as he talks about that time,
fighting back the emotion that
'*L
threatens to overcome him,
He'sbeen on sickleave fiom his iob
for a yea now diagnosed rr.ith posi
tlaurnadc suess in Nlay a.fterremoving
m old mm rvho had killed himself ir a
Corimalffavmpnk
One shot to the head.
"We bagged ild tagged him, I
thought,'thats it. No more. The buckets
frrll',"Verzosasid.
"It n'as gruesome, but I've done more.
All his belongings were h his cuavm.
"I was no longer Supemat, I had
come to the limits of horv much I could
take."
FIis future is mcertain.
Vezosa is dressed casuall)' - polo
shirt, shons and thongs - as he tells his
storv in the cavernous hall ofthe
Salvation Amy headquaners.
He sits in dre front row ofthe enron,
chairs of the congregadon, facirg rhe-
stage,the giant wooden cross,the
Salvation Army flags, the covered grand
pimo and discuded instruments in lhe
fomer nightclub that is now dedicated
to the glory ofcod.
Sifting next to him is a diminutive,
rvhiteJraired woman, dressed in the
distinctive if dowdy Salvosunifom -
dak blue jacket and loee-length skin
with the lener'S' on each lapel.
JayneWilson, 65, is a fomer
steakhousewaitress md mmager of the
Beach House Seafood Rstaurant, who
at the age of32, decided to take up fte
ministy md study for a theology
degree at the Chuch ofChrisl
"l have seven children, 19
gmdchildren md one greathusbild,"
sne sa)s.
Since 1996,she htr set up
comunity programs for the Sa.lvos,
spmialising in fm.ilies grzppling with
mental illness md addiction, md
became the police chaplain for the Ijl(e
Illamcommd in2005.
When she rrceived the call to
minister to Verusa on that Boxing Day
moming, she had methim once -
briefly - at a home in Stanwell Tops
where she was cornforting a family
wbose son had gone missing after
writing a suicide note
Verzosa was searching for the son.
66_
Shewasmy
inspiration and the
loveofmylife.
Websito: M.illawarramercury.com.au
rescue
Strangclllshe had also met Karen
once. in the changingrooms at
Corrimal su'imnringpool, aftcr both
rvonren had enjoved an earl) morning
srvinr-She remembcred that Karen was
pre€ir]ant.
''\\4ren I received a call lrom the
hospitaland thel'told me Ns name, I
felt a really deep sadness,"!\'ilson said.
'i\
really deep sadness."
It }vasa call that begm m intense and
deep friendship between the nvo, as
\Vilson $€nt to Vezosas Figtree house
almost every day for a month in that
magical, intense, and indescribably sad
time between a death and a funeral.
\Mlson was handed Krens diary, and
fotmd herself in commmion with both
father ard mother, thottgh in hvo very
different ways.
"l read through the whole story md
used that for part oftlre funeral," \{4lson
said.
"It was m extraordinary time,
because for me it \r'as as though I had
lived her entire pregnanc]:"
It lvas \lilson who rvas the firet to
view Ktren and Keoki's bodies at the
undertaker, who put her finger in the
babrrs fist and felt his nngers curl
around hers.
It iv6 wilson rvho encouraged
Vezosa to do the sme.
It was \Vilson who officiated at the
funeral in Berkeleyrvhere more thm
1000people shorved to paytheir
respects,includinga large contingent of
police rvho formed a gutrd ofhonour
trvo deep.
And then the friendship continued.
Vezosa would paddle his canoe or
srvim offWollongong Harbour and then
drop by the Salvosin Burelli St rvhere he
The RedShieldAppealtakesplacethis weekend.Donations
can be madevia the SalvationArmy website,by calling13
SALVOS03 72 58), or to volunteeras door-to-doorcollectors
on Sundavmornino.
NSWPolice Rescueofficer Manii Verzosain action and (right) with Salvation
Army officer Jayne Mlson, who helped him through the loss of his partner and
child during birth.Pictu6XENROBERTSoN
andKIRKGTLMoUR
Websalo: M.illawarramercury.com.au
rr,ould have coffee ard conr,ersation
l'itlr \Mlson.
Soon enough,the pair decidedto
rviclen the conversation to include any
police officer *'ho needed suppon and
called tlremselves Ohana [nc. (Ohana
J->
meills "family" in Harvaiian).
So norv, thev go paddling on the {-
oceu one Thunda),. the next they train
at Crockers Bodng Gym in Dapto.
Ahvays follorved b,vcoffee ild
conversation.
Wilson is a passionate supporter
of police md their rvork md -
Q!:n
unusually for a police chaplain -
insists on joining patols for a ffull
6l
i2-hour shift.
" lf you could go out there ild
seesome of the things that police
do on a night shift, it rocksyou
socks." she says.
"They ue God's people on earth,
keeping chaos fiom reigning on
our sree6. I think we should
encoumge police md be invoh,ed
with them.
f/ /
,f
"Ohana is about encoumging
community to be in comunity FT
with police-"
lVhen asked rvhere hewould
jr,,i
be without Jalne, lvlmii is
unchamcteristicallv lost for
words- It's something that he
cmnot imagine.
"l couldn't even imagine
how things wonld have been
different rvithout Ja1ne,"he
says.
"I am iust lucky that Ja]ne
popped into my path. I m so
honoured md lucky, as ae
hmdreds of other people who
come across her-"
WEEKENDER
Saturday, May 29, 2O7O 7