For more than twenty-two years, Dr Cynthia Ward has quietly stood beside families experiencing every parent's worst fear.

As the founder of True Colours Children's Health Trust, she has built one of New Zealand's most respected children's support organisations, providing counselling, nursing care and education for children living with life-limiting illness and the families who love them.

Remarkably, she built it without government funding through community generosity, unwavering determination and a belief that every child deserves to be heard.

In this deeply moving conversation, Annah and Cynthia explore the moments that shaped Cynthia's extraordinary journey, from a twelve-year-old boy who changed the way she understood childhood and dying, to walking through a gang guard at the gate to reach a critically ill child, and the story behind the name True Colours, gifted by Tim Finn.

Listen to the full story on our latest Stretton Unfiltered episode, out 3pm today