Auckland Cup Week®: Leap Year Love - Hollie didn't let cancer stop her from proposing on 29 February

Sometimes in life you come across someone who leaves a place in your heart.

Someone whom you never want to let go of.

For Hollie McIntyre, that person is Andrew – her loving and loyal partner.

So when she heard about our Leap Year Love competition – one that would give a female the chance to propose to her significant other here on 29 February and win some great prizes – Hollie leapt at the chance.

What Hollie didn’t realise, however, was that she quickly found a place in our heart.

Not just because her submission was unlike any other.

Not just because she was the only one to have friends & family also write in to submit on her behalf.

But because this gorgeous woman has terminal cancer and, despite all of the awful setbacks she’s experienced since her diagnosis, she has not stopped giving back to others.

For years Hollie has worked in her local pharmacy, helping others when they are sick and being there to help them get through their troubles.

In between trips to chemotherapy, Hollie was rallying around her community raising money to purchase and send much-needed medical supplies to Australia following the bush fires.

And now she just wanted the chance to propose to the love of her life – not for the prizes; just because Andrew is her “best friend and [her] absolute rock and has had to put so many things on hold to take care of me”.

The Dalai Lama has said that during our lives we should do something good in our lives. That if you can contribute to the happiness of others, then you will find the true meaning of life.

To us, it seemed that Hollie is the embodiment of this.

Her story also made us realise that if she can do so much good for others despite what she’s facing, that we can try and do something good for her.

This was no longer about a marketing promotion – this was about being a human.

We told Hollie she had won the competition and the advertised prizes.

She was over the moon and quickly sorted friends, family, workmates & Andrew to make the trip south to Vodafone Derby Day under the guise (to him) of her having won an ‘Owner for the Day’ experience at the races.

She had sorted all the details and, despite being too ill for chemo on Friday, still managed to make it here to Ellerslie to take up their ‘prize’.

What we didn’t tell Hollie, however, was that we had rallied around our racing community and, thanks to their generosity, were able to ensure that she and Andrew can enjoy the most important thing in their lives – time together in the coming months – while the stresses of their wedding planning were sorted.

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when this courageous woman proposed to her best friend up on the dais just after 1.40pm on Saturday 29 February 2020.

From the team at Auckland Racing Club, thank you Hollie for helping us realise the true meaning of life and for forever leaving a place in our hearts.

We wish you and Andrew all the happiness in the world xxx

Thanks to these people & brands, we were able to offer Hollie & Andrew the following prizes which we part of the advertised promotion, being:

PLUS these surprise gifts and services which neither Andrew nor Hollie knew about until the day: