Keri didn’t grow up with her Dad, but when she ran into him as an adult, the former rest home caregiver knew he needed her help.

“I bumped into him in Wellington and all my experience with caring and servicing people kicked into place after seeing the way he was living and being treated,” the 51-year-old says. “And so began my journey looking after my Dad.”

Hamilton mum of four Shannon cares for her beautiful youngest child Tailen, who has Cystic Fibrosis.

Her days generally stretch from 6am to 1am, and include an intensive medication regime, two to three physio sessions, up to 30 nappy changes and the ever-present fear of infection.

The financial pressures are immense and she admits most days, she sits down and cries, but manages to keep going for the love of her family.

In the late 80s, Jenny Noble’s two young children Hayden and Sarah were diagnosed with Mucolipidosis Type III.

Now young adults, they remain the only two people in New Zealand with the rare condition, a slowly progressive Lysosomal Storage Disease that affects many parts of the body.

To plenty of young women growing up in New Zealand, Jean Batten is the stuff of legend.

The 1930s images of her standing proudly before her plane in her flying cap and goggles are iconic, and her solo flights are now part of Kiwi folklore.

We still have the notes Carers NZ co-founder Laurie Hilsgen took during an historic telephone call with Jill Pitkeathley, then CEO of the United Kingdom's Carers National Association, in the early 1990s.

Laurie and Dorothy McCaw were in the process of finding out how other countries supported their family carers. Those were pre-internet days when discovering who was who in the world of caring wasn't as simple as a Google search.

Although Helen is no longer physically with us, her contributions to society and worker rights will be with us for years to come.

I think she was an important person in the history of our country, not just within the union movement but across society. A leader who was tenacious, passionate, caring. A leader who happened to be a woman.