KAILUA-KONA — Four months ago, Laurie Haut’s life was leveled by the news. What she’d hoped was only a simple thyroid problem proved to be a condition far graver — stage 4 cancer.
KAILUA-KONA — Four months ago, Laurie Haut’s life was leveled by the news. What she’d hoped was only a simple thyroid problem proved to be a condition far graver — stage 4 cancer.
She quit her jobs as an accountant and a reading intervention teacher that day. For the recently divorced, single mother of a 9-year-old son, there could be only one priority: Get better. Now.
“I’ve been pretty calm right from the beginning,” Haut said. “I’ve had my moments, but I feel it’s all going to be OK, and I’ve had so much support.”
Haut ran through a series of tests revealing that the cancer began its assault in her Fallopian tubes two years before and subsequently had a port installed in her chest in preparation for chemo therapy. As a result of her travels back and forth to Oahu and navigating the logistics of her medical care, a few day-to-day responsibilities fell by the wayside.
One such responsibility was managing landscaping duties on the half acre surrounding her home, replete with steep, rocky banks and several trees. The home owners association at Kahakai Estates sent Haut a letter, letting her know the issue needed to be addressed.
Mounting bills and a lack of able bodies complicated any immediate solution. But Haut’s sister, Judy McGettigan, said since the news of Haut’s medical turmoil arrived, she has been beset on all sides by angels and synchronicity.
One such angel happened to sit on the Kahakai home owners association board and served as the catalyst for a synchronicity that resolved Haut’s landscaping problem on Friday.
Tanya Power lives at Kahakai Estates and works as a real estate agent for Windermere C &H Properties. The entire company shuts down its 300 offices across the country one day per year to participate in a community service day, which just happened to be right around the corner when Power learned of her neighbor’s predicament.
“The company is always looking for something that makes a difference when we’re doing this,” Power said as she stood outside Haut’s home with an army of real estate agents and their families, who picked weeds from rock banks and pruned trees.
In recent years, employees from the office have worked with the humane society and picked up cigarette butts while cleaning up the Hapuna Beach area. But their efforts to help Haut felt somehow more significant to the participants.
“We’ve done dozens of these,” Power said. “This is the one that has got the most heart to it.”
The company’s initial plan had been to engage in a separate community outreach event, said Kerry Balaam, manager of Windermere’s community service day. But that changed when the group viewed a video about a sister office in Seattle that cleaned up a backyard left in disarray by a contractor. The mess was prohibiting a young boy, stricken with cancer, who lived at the residence from enjoying the outdoors on his family’s own property.
Power told her colleagues about Haut, and that was that. The plan changed.
“It seemed like a perfect fit,” Balaam said.
She wasn’t alone with her sentiment.
“This was just something that really helped somebody who really needed it,” said Cindy Wild, the principal broker of Windermere C &H properties. “We just felt like this was better than anything else we could do.”
Haut was overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of the dozens of people scattered across her property, many of whom she’d never met.
“It’s a big production,” she said. “I didn’t realize this many people were going to be here. It’s very touching. I’m just kind of used to doing things on my own. This experience has taught me to step back, to let your community be there for you, and they’ve all been there as I’ve needed them. It has been an amazing thing.”
Haut has started a GoFundMe page to help with medical costs. Visit the website at https://www.gofundme.com/27r7rbrk to donate.