Patient stories

“I said to the haematologist, ‘OK, can we start this afternoon?’ and she smiled and said, ‘Er, no, not this afternoon but we won’t be slow about this.’"

"We had a fair idea of what it could be... we were just hoping it wasn't."

“Someone said to me, ‘It’s amazing that you haven’t had a break down yet.’”

“She took me into the room and she sat me down with a haematologist. And they said, ‘Yep. You’ve got cancer. It’s a blood cancer.’”

“See, it’s funny with blood cancer…you always find an explanation for your symptoms. You never think it’s blood cancer, you think it’s something else.” 

“Sometimes even now, I think in the shower – ‘Today, am I going to find a bump that shouldn’t be there?'"

“Hearing that I had Hodgkin lymphoma was emotional. I was glad that I was in Auckland and could distract myself.”

“Come on, guys. I’m fighting for my life here, and you’re asking me when I’m gonna die?” 

"My doctors said I had no more options left; I only had a few months to live. I was in total shock."

“Why are these pesky mortals doing another medical procedure on me!?” This was running through Wendy Harrex’s mind while in intensive care.