Carrie Allen, the 12-year-old daughter of Dean Jamie and Suzy Allen, died at home in New Plymouth on Saturday after a three-year struggle with soft-tissue cancer.

In a message to the church, Bishop Philip Richardson said Carrie “walked every step of her journey unshaken in her faith and as a committed member of the cathedral whanau.”

Her father, Jamie, added: "Carrie is, and now always will be, a child of the mountain. She has been welcomed and embraced with the deepest affection to the place with which she fell in love.

“Although her life was painfully short from our perspective, it is true to say that Carrie touched many people as she bravely walked a sometimes very rocky path. She came, singing love.

“I know there will be shared grief for her, and for us as a family. We have done our learning of the genuine aroha of the people of Aotearoa New Zealand through the acts of love that people spontaneously have undertaken.

“Most fundamentally this has been unstintingly in prayer; but has included many many blessings – including liberating me from all commitments as Dean for the last few weeks of Carrie's life.

“May I request prayer especially for all those for whom this shared loss has reopened a personal grief of their own; especially any grieving children or parents; for those suffering childhood cancer and their families – never give up hope -– and for the cathedral community in Taranaki.

“Also please for (sisters) Danii, Katy and Roxy; for Carrie's friends and family here and overseas, and for Suzy and myself. We shall be praying too; knowing that others share in our loss as they have shared in our love for Carrie."

Taranaki Cathedral is available for prayer and the lighting of candles.

A book of condolence has also been opened for messages to the Allen family.

"Talitha, koum" Mark 5:41