Taking the days as they come
At 70, Warwick describes himself as someone who has always enjoyed good health. Living in Lower Hutt with his daughter, he continued to work throughout his sixties and hardly ever got sick. “I hadn’t had a day off work for two years!” he says.
So when he suddenly began to feel unwell, it wasn’t something he took lightly. “I was just feeling yuck all the time,” he says. “I ended up going to the doctor every month for six months in a row.”
Despite the regular visits, he wasn’t getting any answers – but his symptoms were becoming harder to ignore. He was exhausted, struggling through each day. “I was going to work, and going through the motions, but I wasn’t actually doing anything,” he says.
His boss did what he could to help, encouraging Warwick to sit while he worked. But as the fatigue got worse, even that wasn’t enough. Eventually, Warwick’s employer made the difficult decision to let him go. “I wasn't upset, really,” says Warwick. “I knew that my ability to do the work was almost zero.”
By then, Warwick had lost 30 kilograms and was feeling increasingly frustrated by the lack of a diagnosis. Determined to get to the bottom of what was going on, he asked to see a different GP. “I talked to him for five minutes, and he said I needed to go to the hospital. Just like that.”
At the hospital, doctors took a biopsy of a lymph node in his neck. “But it wasn’t sufficient, so then I had to go back three weeks later, and they had another shot.”
After that, it was a waiting game. “It was probably about a week and a half later,” Warwick says. “The thing came back and said, ‘Yes, you’ve got mantle cell lymphoma.’”
The diagnosis was hard to take in. “I couldn’t believe it,” Warwick recalls. “I thought, ‘This can’t be right. Cancer – no, not me.’ I just couldn’t believe that I could have cancer.”
But things moved quickly. Within weeks, Warwick had started chemotherapy.
He soon realised he wasn’t alone in his journey. Every treatment day was a reminder of how many others were facing similar challenges. “All the chemo sessions I went to, all but one chair was full. I was surprised at how many people were there.”
His treatment took place at Wellington Hospital, and travelling back and forth from the Hutt Valley was tough. Despite this, Warwick was grateful for how smoothly the chemo itself was going. Apart from some nausea from one of the medications, he experienced very few side effects.
Part way through treatment, however, he faced an unexpected complication: his heart began to fail, and his blood pressure dropped dangerously low. “At one stage, my blood pressure was down to about 54/45,” he says. He was hospitalised for monitoring and treatment, adding another layer of uncertainty to an already challenging year.
Thankfully, Warwick responded well, and his health gradually stabilised. He completed six rounds of chemo and moved on to maintenance medication.
Unfortunately, recovery hasn’t been as quick as he imagined. “I’m getting my energy back slowly,” he says, “but it’s taken a lot longer than I expected.” He used to love reading books, but says he now finds it too hard to focus on them.
Throughout his journey, Warwick stayed connected with Blood Cancer NZ Support Services Coordinators Melody and Nicki. They regularly checked in with him over the phone and at the hospital, offering information and a listening ear.
Blood Cancer NZ’s local support groups have been another great source of support. “I’d recommend them to anyone who’s interested,” he says. “If you have the opportunity, go along just to have a look, and you’ll find someone to talk to.”
For Warwick, the groups offer connection and understanding. “It’s quite a social thing – but if you want to talk about cancer, everyone’s prepared to do that,” he says. “Talking to other people is wonderful. You realise in some ways how lucky you are, and in other ways, perhaps you’re a little bit unlucky as well.”
Now on the other side of active treatment, Warwick has a realistic outlook. “I’m very aware that it could be a click of my fingers and I could be right back where I started,” he says. “And I know that, because I’ve talked to other people who’ve been there.”
He’s also found himself wanting to give back. “One thing that’s come from this is there are so many people helping you that it rubs off, and you actually want to help other people.”
Instead of planning too far into the future, Warwick is taking things day by day. “It might be a self-preservation thing that I’m not thinking too far ahead,” he says. “We’ll just take the days as they come. And when I wake up, it’s a good day.”
