Grappling with the death of her father and feeling cut off from her Māori roots, Dr Karyn Paringatai decided to find her wider whānau. It proved to be a life-changing and life-saving choice, which led to her being diagnosed as a rare CDH1 gene carrier and having her stomach removed.
“There are a whole lot of valid reasons why Māori are disconnected,” says Karyn, 43, who lost contact with her extended whānau as a child when her dad, like so many Māori of