ITV News Arts Editor Nina Nannar Embarks on Emotional Journey to New Zealand to Honor Late Husband Steve’s Memory

ITV News Arts Editor, Nina Nannar, recently opened up about her poignant journey to New Zealand, where she laid her late husband, Steve Ronson, to rest. The emotional trip marked a significant moment following Steve’s passing in 2022 due to complications from kidney disease. The couple had shared 23 years together and have a daughter, Mimi, who is now 19.

In an interview with Norfolk magazine, 57-year-old Nina reflected on how she had both prepared for and dreaded the trip for over a year. She described it as a “heartbreaking mission,” as she was set to fulfill Steve’s wish of returning to the land he loved.

The objective was to scatter Steve’s ashes in his homeland, New Zealand, among the waves he once surfed and surrounded by the friends who knew him best. Although they originally intended to complete this journey the previous year, Nina realized she wasn’t yet ready emotionally.

She confessed to experiencing many sleepless nights over the thought of possibly losing control of her emotions during the ceremony. Nina feared that her grief might overwhelm her, leaving her vulnerable in front of Steve’s loved ones.

They had planned to do it the year before but she realised she wasn’t emotionally ready yet and Nina admitted she had sleepless nights over whether she might struggle to control her grief and ‘be embarrassing’ in front of his friends.

ITV News Arts Editor Nina Nannar has detailed her ‘agonising’ trip to New Zealand to scatter her late husband Steve’s ashes after losing him to kidney disease in 2022 

The broadcaster lost her beloved garden designer husband of 23 years following complications from kidney disease – They have a daughter together called Mimi, 19, (centre) 

Nina, (pictured on ITV News) said: ‘Even though Steve has been gone three years, the sorrow I feel over his loss still manages to cripple me in unexpected moments, of leaving me still in despair and disbelief that he is no longer here.’

Nina told the publication: ‘Even though Steve has been gone three years, the sorrow I feel over his loss still manages to cripple me in unexpected moments, of leaving me still in despair and disbelief that he is no longer here.’ 

Praising her friends for holding her hand ‘through my irrational moments’ and ‘times of agony’ she said: ‘My grief is raw, but this trip Mimi and I made did help us in a huge way.’ 

After getting to their destination, Nina and Mimi gathered Steve’s friends on his favourite surf beach and sang their ‘family anthem’, Return Of The Grievous Angel. 

They also visited Steve’s paradise, a beach on the Coramandel Peninsula, where Nina filmed a video and sent it to his sister, Chris, who asked her if she had noticed an orb of green light floating across the video which Nina hopes is a sign from Steve. 

Kidney Research UK wrote that Steve was born with reflux, a problem with a valve in the ureter that allows urine to travel the wrong way, from the bladder back into the kidney.

Nina and Steve’s friends went to his favourite beach on the Coramandel Peninsula, where she filmed a video and sent it to his sister, Chris, who asked her if she had noticed an orb of green light floating across the video. Nina hopes is a sign from Steve, (pictured). 

When he was a teenager, he collapsed because his kidney was barely functioning and had to begin dialysis treatment immediately. 

He spent three and a half years on dialysis, before receiving a kidney transplant which lasted for 30 years. 

Then in 2016, Steve went back onto dialysis for nearly two years before getting a second transplant.

Sadly, a side effect of the anti-rejection medication Steve had to take every day is an increased risk skin cancer and he was monitored for this every year. 

In 2021, he had surgery to remove some lump on his back which had changed and doctors discovered there were cancer cells. 

A year later, the cancer cells had spread, and Steve’s ear had to be removed the day after his 60th birthday.

Sadly, Steve passed away and Nina and their daughter were with him when he died, playing his favourite songs during his final moments.