Read suffered from a rare blood disorder and died from a brain haemorrhage at the age of 25.

Leilani Elizabeth Taufailematagi Read, of Samoan descent, came from Porirua in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand.

She played netball for Wellington as a Goal shooter (GS) or Goal attack (GA), and was chosen in 1993 to play for the Silver Ferns, New Zealand's national team, making her debut in a match against Namibia held at Palmerston North, New Zealand on 15 May.

She was in the New Zealand team that won a silver medal at the 1993 World Games, in The Hague, Netherlands.

She was due to play again for Samoa in the 1999 World Netball Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand, but in August 1999 she suffered a brain haemorrhage that was caused by a rare blood disorder and died on 17 August.