Tina Johnson's home after the tornado. Her bedroom was on the upper level, which was totally obliterated. Photo: Peter de Graaf / RNZ
A Northland woman severely injured when a tornado destroyed her home is organising a fundraiser to give back to those who helped her on the night she nearly lost her life.
Tina Johnson was sucked out of her first-floor bedroom when the twister hit Mangawhai about 3am on 26 January.
The tornado then dumped her, bloodied and with multiple broken bones, on the roof of her car port.
Neighbours heard her calls for help and went to her aid, along with volunteer firefighters and St John paramedics.
Even getting her to safety was enormously difficult, with widespread power outages, downed powerlines and debris blocking the roads.
Seven months on, Johnson said she still had a long road to recovery ahead but was determined to help those who had helped her.
"While I was lying in hospital for three months I did a lot of soul searching, and I just wanted to give back. That's just part of me, and it kept me going. It gave me an avenue to focus on while I was in hospital and getting better," she said.
"And who better to put it towards than St John and our fire department, because they were the ones there on the night for me. If I can give back to them, which helps them give back to the community, then I'm supporting everybody."
This business, close to Tina Johnson's home, was also destroyed by the tornado. Photo: Peter de Graaf / RNZ
Johnson decided to organise a fashion parade fundraiser at the Mangawhai Club on Molesworth Drive, where she used to work.
The event would start at 1pm Saturday with bubbles at the door, nibbles, an auction, gift bags, raffles, and two local boutiques putting on the parade.
"It's not like I can do a lot at the moment but it's something I've done in the past, so I thought I'd be able to do it again because I knew what I was doing. It's not my first rodeo."
Johnson said she'd had huge support from her friends and the community, "because that's what Mangawhai's like".
If the event sold out, tickets sales alone would raise $6000, which she would split between St John Mangawhai and Mangawhai Fire Brigade.
Both were entirely volunteer-run.
Johnson said she hoped to use the proceeds to buy equipment such as emergency kits for the volunteer paramedics' vehicles.
She had a particularly close bond with two of the St John volunteers, Danny and Jeff, who had been with her when someone she knew died just a few months before the tornado.
"We were trying to save him, giving him CPR and that. Unfortunately, we couldn't save him, but they were just so supportive … So it was quite nice that they were also the ones on the roof with me on that night."
Their presence was a great comfort in her hour of need, she said.
Debris lodged in a tree at Old Waipu Road, near Tina Johnson's home. Photo: Peter de Graaf / RNZ
Johnson said she was still unable to walk properly - she used a crutch and needed to rest every 10 minutes or so - and was in "pretty constant" pain.
"It's been quite an ordeal just to learn to walk again, but it's all happened pretty quickly, and my doctors are quite blown away that I'm healing so quickly and doing so well."
She had another back operation coming up and possibly more surgery to her knee as well.
Johnson remembered the night of the tornado vividly but was not "hung up on it".
"It is hard, but what happened happened, I can't do anything about it, so I just need to move on," she said.
"But the PTSD gets up a little bit when the wind gets up. We've had some pretty horrendous winds come through Mangawhai since I've been out of hospital, and that gets a bit scary."
The home on Old Waipu Road that she and her father owned had since been demolished.
She stayed with some close friends when she first got out of hospital and was in a wheelchair, and was now renting a two-bedroom home from another friend, also in Mangawhai.
Her near-death experience had made her more determined to achieve the things she wanted to, though for now her focus was on recovery.
It had also filled her with gratitude "to all the people that have helped me right from the start, from the night of the tornado, through to the support they're giving me to raise money for the Mangawhai emergency services".
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