When Temira Hetherington and Tai Mataroa launch balloons to the heavens next week it will be a touching tribute to the baby son and daughter cruelly snatched from them by a mystery disease.
Mito, Stories
Losing two young children to a mystery disease that has no cure is Temira Hetherington and Tai Mataroa's reality.
In 2009, the couple's daughter Rio died at just 22 months. In 2014, son Taison died at age three.
Both children are suspected to have died from a mitochondrial disease - their symptoms and the results of muscle biopsies revealed problems with the mitochondria.
