He's just four years old and has already had to take on Leukaemia. Yet, young Tate McNaught has the support of a whole tennis club behind him to help raise funds for his treatments.

At the end of February, the Tauranga pre-schooler was diagnosed with leukaemia 'out of the blue,” says his nanna Linda McGovern.

'He had ear infections quite often and he just had his routine four-year-old ear and eye check.

'The nurse thought he had a hole in his ear drum so my daughter marched him to the doctor and had a blood test, and, yeah, that's when they found out…it was a bit of a shock for us all.”

Just like his nanna and poppa Linda and Mike McGovern, who have been Papamoa Tennis Club members for 10 years, Tate loves tennis.

'He loves any racquet sport….it's in the blood I think.

'He's a typical four-year-old – really busy, loves to bike, love's to be outside. But he's coping very well because he's not allowed to go to daycare, or see his friends…in case he gets a cold, or infection.”

Surrounding support

Although he may have to keep his distance from people, the support around Tate is ever present. This Saturday, May 27, the Papamoa Tennis Club is hosting a Shave for a Cure fundraising event in light of Tate's diagnosis. 'The tennis club is just phenomenal,” says Linda. 'They just get behind people that have had problems …and I mean it's our grandson so the club members were just so upset, so it's quite humbling to think you've got friends who really care about you.”

The fundraiser will include fun tennis games, live music and head shaving for a good cause. Club president Gerald Greig will go under the clippers himself.

Gerald says Mike and Linda are really good members of the club. 'They're lovely people …and lots of people in the community are afflicted by this…that's really why the club has got behind it.”

Thankfully Tate is cancer-free at the moment but he still has two years of treatment ahead, says Linda. '[Doctors] put them on a really long maintenance programme to make sure that all the cancer's gone, apparently it can hide in lots of different parts of your body.

'He's been pretty good you know but the next few months could be different because they're increasing the dosage, so hey, you just take every day as it comes and hope that he's well.”

The club aims to raise $15,000 for the NZ Leukemia and Blood Cancer Research team. The Shave for a Cure fundraiser is at Papamoa Tennis Club from 1pm-7pm on Saturday, May 27. If you can't make it, donate at: https://www.shaveforacure.co.nz/t/tate