From Patient to Nurse: Rosie Proctor’s Story of Overcoming Leukaemia

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[00:02:37] Kate: Welcome back to another episode of Talking Blood Cancer. In this week’s episode, you will hear Mary Anne’s conversation with Rosie Proctor, whose journey began in February, 1993, after Rosie received the life changing diagnosis of acute myeloid leukaemia. By September in 1993, Rosie underwent a bone marrow transplant with her sibling as the donor.

[00:03:05] Although she has faced years of graft versus host disease, Rosie’s spirit has remained unbroken. Turning adversity into inspiration, Rosie pursued a nursing career. She has graduated as an RN and worked in the operating theatres. despite battling chronic fatigue and other health challenges. So join us for a heartwarming chat with Rosie, whose determination and positivity shines through every step of her remarkable story.

[00:03:38] So let’s dive in.

[00:03:40] Maryanne: Hello, my name is Maryanne Skarparis and today in the studio here with me is the lovely Rosie Proctor, who I’ve known for many years. Welcome Rosie to Talking Blood Cancer.

[00:03:53] Rosie: Thank you, Marianne. Thank you for having me.

[00:03:55] Maryanne: Look, Rosie, you’ve probably listened to some of our podcast stories. What we always ask is we welcome people who, and thank people firstly for saying thank you for sharing your story and joining us, and that sort of thing. Tell me, Rosie, how did it all start with you, with your blood cancer story?

[00:04:12] What happened? Where were you, what year are we talking and what’s your blood cancer story?

[00:04:18] Rosie: Well, it happened a long time ago. It was the summer of 1993 and I remember it like it was just yesterday.

[00:04:25] Maryanne: Wow.

[00:04:25] Rosie: I was a busy 32 year old uh, nurse doing shift work just enjoying life, taking life for granted. Just doing normal, everyday stuff. And I got a pain in my hip and I’d put up with it for a few days, but we were moving house.

[00:04:45] I had been with my partner for many years and we had always shared a house with other people and we decided to make a commitment and move in together. So we were finally moving into our house together, and we moved into the house. And I took a couple of days off work just to get the house together and I felt lousy and I said I’m not going back to work, I feel too lousy. And so I rang up sick and I took my temperature and my temperature was 40 degrees.

[00:05:17] Maryanne: Goodness

[00:04:18] Rosie: And I had this nagging pain in my hip. And I went straight to my GP and she said listen, I think you’ve got Ross River Fever.

[00:05:26] Maryanne: right?

[00:05:27] Rosie: What we’ll do is just run some blood tests and do an x ray on your hip, just to make sure that’s nothing else. And it was a funny time because it, in 1993, when you moved house, there was no such thing as mobile phones, particularly. Phone connection didn’t happen instantaneously. You had several days before your phone was even connected. So we had no phone.

[00:05:51] Rosie: Long story cut short, she got back to me, and we went down and she said, look I think you’ve got leukaemia and you need to go to the hospital.

[00:06:03] And she had the results of the bloods in her hand and I snatched them out of her hand, and I had no idea what I was looking for. But I was scanning these results for something that might have said leukaemia or something. But of course there was nothing there. And I said, I’ve got a pain in my hip. And she just looked at me and said, look, it’s serious, you need to go to the hospital now.

[00:06:28] Maryanne: Wow.

[00:06:30] Rosie: So there and then I went up to the hospital, spent a horrendous evening in accident and emergency, with all sorts of tests and of course it was the same hospital where I worked as a nurse, so I knew everybody.

[00:06:44] Maryanne: Yes.

[00:06:46] Rosie: And everybody was terrified for me. Nobody wanted to talk to me because, they didn’t want to show their vulnerabilities. So I got ignored pretty much all night. It was,

[00:06:57] Maryanne: Oh, that’s isolating, isn’t it Rosie?

[00:07:00] Rosie: Yes it was, I was in such shock. It was a really difficult time, but anyway. In I went, and they said they’ll have results of the bone marrow test back in the morning. And by then, word had spread throughout the hospital amongst all my colleagues that potentially I had leukaemia.

[00:07:19] So, not only was I coping with a difficult diagnosis. I was coping with lots of people that were in tears, and I had to sooth, calm them down, and it was a really difficult time.

[00:07:35] Maryanne: Oh, emotionally exhausting.

[00:07:37] Rosie: Yeah,

[00:07:38] Maryanne: I mean, I guess in some ways, too, reflecting how much you were valued.

[00:07:43] Rosie: Yeah, I guess that was nice. I felt very loved. I can tell you that. It was very different for me. It was very different because I’d never been a patient. So it was a very different feeling for me being a patient and being in the same hospital where I worked.

[00:08:03] Maryanne: Yes. It would’ve been, it would have been. So you proceeded to go onto the ward and the following day, were you told what type of leukaemia you had and what was that?

[00:08:14] Rosie: So they came back as acute myeloid leukaemia.

[00:08:17] Maryanne: Okay.

[00:08:18] Rosie: Subtype M2. I think nowadays they have all sorts of more, complex subtypes. But back then it was just classified as M2. So I had it went in straight away for induction at Gold Coast Hospital, yep.

[00:08:36] Maryanne: And what was your other regime moving forward?

[00:08:39] Rosie: So I had yeah, induction there and then I had consolidation. And then they looked at doing a bone marrow transplant in Brisbane. Which they didn’t do down on the Gold Coast. So I needed to go and be referred to Royal Brisbane.

[00:08:53] And went up there the date was set for the transplant, which at that stage was several months in advance.

[00:09:01] So I had a bit of time to sort of come to terms with what I was in for. Not that you can ever,

[00:09:08] Maryanne: No, what prepares you for that? What does prepare you for that? Or what did you draw on as you prepared for something like a transplant? What were the choices that you made to get yourself ready for that kind of procedure?

[00:09:21] Rosie: I’m not sure what I did. I felt continually in chaos.

[00:09:27] Maryanne: Did you?

[00:09:28] Rosie: I was not calm at all. I just potentially saw that this was serious. I didn’t know if I was going to survive, and I couldn’t calm myself at all. People would send around books for me to read. They would come and visit. They would feed me. They would take me out for lunch.

[00:09:47] They would sing to me. They would do jigsaw puzzles. They would read to me. They would do craft with me. But nothing calmed me. I felt in a constant state of unease. And I found that the months leading up to it the most difficult because I just didn’t know what was ahead. I had no one to draw from their experience.

[00:10:15] So I found it really difficult. So I journaled a lot. My partner had bought me a journal. 

[00:10:22] Maryanne: Yeah. 

[00:10:23] Rosie:And I didn’t really understand what that meant. So at the initially, I would say, April the 5th. I went out for lunch. I had a MUD test. I didn’t really understand what journaling went, how it went. So as time went on, I became, much better at it and was able to write my thoughts down.

[00:10:46] Maryanne: And did you find that practice, that journaling practice, helped ease your anxiety? Or did it provide any opportunity to, assist in calming you down?

[00:10:59] Rosie: It probably did, it made me sit still and think about my thoughts. At the time, I didn’t realise that. And it was just, can’t think of no other word but chaos. It was difficult time.

[00:11:15] Maryanne: Yeah.

[00:11:16] Rosie: But on reflection I’ve still got my journals from all those years ago.

[00:11:21] Maryanne: Wow.

[00:11:22] Rosie: And they’re fascinating to read.

[00:11:23] Maryanne: I bet, I bet they are. I bet they are. So you proceeded to transplant and who was your donor, Rosie?

[00:11:32] Rosie: I had a sibling donor. I was very fortunate. 

[00:11:35] Maryanne: Yep

[00:11:36] Rosie: She had lived in New Zealand. She’s my oldest sister. She had lived away in New Zealand since I was 11 years old.

[00:11:43] Maryanne: Okay.

[00:11:44] Rosie: Then they went to Singapore to live and they had just arrived back in Australia, the month before I was diagnosed to live.

[00:11:53] Maryanne: Oh wow, talk about timing. Perfect.

[00:11:56] Rosie: Perfect, it was perfect timing. Yeah.

[00:11:58] Maryanne: And, was a great support for you during that time as well?

[00:12:02] Rosie: Oh yeah, yeah. As all of my family were, they found it difficult as well. And we certainly had our ups and downs. It was difficult watching them crumble. You know, they were frightened for me. They didn’t know what my future was. They didn’t understand a lot of things. I watched them crumble.

[00:12:24] Maryanne: Yeah, that would have been very hard. Very hard. So your transplant was back in 1993 or four? 

[00:12:32] Rosie: Three. 

[00:12:32] Maryanne: Three, same year.

[00:12:34] Rosie: Yeah.

[00:12:35] Maryanne: Wow, so that’s now 30.

[00:12:38] Rosie: It’ll be 31 years on the 2nd of September.

[00:12:43] Maryanne: Wow.

[00:12:44] Rosie: So when I had my transplant, growth factors were just a brand new thing.

[00:12:48] Maryanne: Mmm, they were.

[00:12:49] Rosie: It was, the in thing, and I had to actually sign a consent form to allow, to have the growth factors. And I had so many new things thrown at me and you became almost incapable of making decisions because my head was so scatty. I became almost incapable of making decisions. So I was constantly saying to the doctor what would you do, if you were in shoes?

[00:13:19] Maryanne: So needing that reassurance in a way.

[00:13:22] Rosie: I guess that’s exactly what it was, yeah.

[00:13:25] Maryanne: Did you find at the time with your nursing knowledge that, you know how some people say ignorance is bliss. But that little bit of knowledge, did you think it magnified things more for you because you did have a knowledge around blood and, even though you may not have been a haematology nurse, but your nursing knowledge, did that make things magnified for you, or did you feel that it helped you?

[00:13:53] Rosie: I don’t think it helped me at all. I think I was a terrible patient. I was an enrolled nurse.

[00:14:00] Maryanne: Right.

[00:14:01] Rosie: So it’s quite different to a registered nurse. I did an 18 month course, whereas registered nurses do a 3 year course, sorry. 

[00:14:10] Maryanne: That’s right.

[00:14:11] Rosie: And it’s a lot more in depth, so their knowledge was a lot greater than mine.

[00:14:16] Maryanne: Uh huh.

[00:14:17] Rosie: But I still knew stuff.

[00:14:20] Maryanne: Yes of course.

[00:14:18] Rosie: But not enough, enough probably to make me very nervous.

[00:14:24] Maryanne: Now that was the interesting part about what I do know about you, Rosie. Is that your experience with transplant, having been the enrolled nurse, when you were post transplant, what decisions did you make? About what you wanted to do with your life, or how did you get through that time when you were post transplant?

[00:14:46] Did you set yourself any goals? Did you have in your mindset that you wanted to return to work? Did you pursue further study? What things did the transplant and the leukaemia experience bring to you that changed your outlook on life?

[00:15:03] Rosie: So my haematologist told me that I would probably never go back to work. And had a lot of complications, that were quite, went on for quite a long period of time. But less than 12 months later, I’d gone back to work. I couldn’t wait to get back. I felt inadequate because I wasn’t helping with the financial side and I really wanted to get back, see my workmates. And so back I went for a couple of days a week, and I gradually built up. And then I decided, so before I was actually diagnosed, I had applied to go to university, to do my registered nurse training. It was something that I’d always wanted to do and I wasn’t accepted. And I was really shattered and that was actually the year before I was diagnosed.

[00:15:56] Maryanne: Okay.

[00:15:58] Rosie: And I thought what now? That’s my whole plan. What do I do now? And then of course I got sick and I had no plans for the future. I found it very difficult to move forward. I felt that I wasn’t, almost not worthy to do anything for myself, that I had to help everybody else, because everybody had helped me.

[00:16:22]  Maryanne: Yeah.

[00:16:23] Rosie: So I found it really difficult to move forward. But finally, after many years, I decided that I would apply to university again.

[00:16:33] Maryanne: Good for you.

[00:16:34] Rosie: And in 2003, I applied to go to university to do my general nurse training, my registered nurse training, and got in. And yeah, and then I became a registered nurse. After all those years, I became a registered nurse.

[00:16:52] Maryanne: Well, congratulations, Rosie. Cause you know, I’m a great believer in the power of needing and having a purpose in life. And something to work toward, something that brings you, purpose. There’s something that you’re passionate about and obviously your innate ability to want to give back, to want to serve others, to want to help others. That’s built into the person who you are. And so that driving force encouraged you to pursue what you really wanted to do, years before.

[00:17:27] Rosie: That’s correct. Yeah. I felt it was something that I had always planned to do. But I just got sidetracked along the way with all the,

[00:17:37] Maryanne: A big sidetrack, Rosie. So what, with that study, Rosie, and having had your own personal physical challenge, how did you find that? Did you find it helped you wanting to get your teeth into the why around our blood and how it works and systems and that sort of thing?

[00:17:56] Rosie: I think I’d done all of that beforehand. I’d done some work with the Leukaemia Foundation, as you well know.

[00:18:04] Maryanne: Yes.

[00:18:05] Rosie: Over a long period of time. So I became very familiar with, treatments, plans, that I supported a lot of people who were going through a diagnosis such as mine. So I think I had all of that down pat. By the time I got to uni, I think I was ready to move on.

[00:18:26] Maryanne: Yep.

[00:18:26] Rosie: I thought, finally it’s my time again. I can, do this. I can move on, move forward. And not become just the girl with leukaemia. And I was, I’d lost my identity, I think, somewhere along the way. And all I knew that I was, was a girl that had survived leukaemia.

[00:18:48] Maryanne: Yeah.

[00:18:49] Rosie: And a lot of other things went about, they were just gone. I had nothing else to offer except that I was the girl with leukaemia. But now I realise that I’ve got a whole lot more to offer.

[00:19:02] Maryanne: A whole lot more to offer. Absolutely. So when you, just touching on that statement, the girl with leukaemia. I’m sure at some level during that time, because you mentioned a little bit earlier that you had some significant challenges, just post transplant.

[00:19:18] Can you share a little bit about that time?

[00:19:20] Because I’m sure it might have been a bit of a soul searching time for you, or? What were the things that you surrounded yourself with or what were the, because find that conversations like this really help those that are in that stage. That it’s actually okay to feel a bit lost. You have lost, you know, your identity and life is different.

[00:19:41] So how do you manage the challenges that are brought to you? And what helped you during that time?

[00:19:48] Rosie: I don’t think I managed it very well, to be truthful.

[00:19:51] Maryanne: That’s alright!

[00:19:52] Rosie: I spent so long in hospital. I spent around nine months in hospital for my transplant. I had a couple of little breaks in between where I went home for a couple of weeks. But my whole world shrunk. I was no longer the girl that went out for lunches with friends that worked, that had things to talk about. My whole world had just shrunk down to a hospital bed and my locker. It was funny, my partner had bought me in, he’d actually bought in a photo of my tot in a frame.

[00:20:30] Maryanne: Ooh.

[00:20:31] Rosie: And was a favourite photo of mine. And I begged him to take it home because I was frightened that it would get lost. It was one of my dearest possessions.

[00:20:40] Maryanne: Yes.

[00:20:41] Rosie: But it just goes to show how much my world had actually shrunk down. 

[00:20:45] Maryanne: Mmm.

[00:20:46] Rosie: And I only had what was around me to feel safe, and then I didn’t feel safe. Yeah, for a long time, I would say for five or six years, I was really lost. 

[00:21:01] Maryanne: Ooh.

[00:21:02] Rosie: I didn’t know who I was. I’d lost faith in my ability to be well. I didn’t know what being well was. I had nothing else to talk about but my complications of my illness. I was a sad person, really, to be around.

[00:21:22] Maryanne: Yeah.

[00:21:23] Rosie: And I didn’t like it. What got me through, I guess I’ve just been blessed with really strong constitution to just struggle on. I think looking back, clinically, I was depressed, but it was never recognised by any of my treating team.

[00:21:43] Maryanne: Right?

[00:21:44] Rosie: And at times, you know, I just wanted to die because I was so sad. at everything that I’d lost. But of course, I didn’t.

[00:21:53] Maryanne: No

[00:21:54] Rosie: And I got through. How I got through, I’m not sure. I guess I continued to journal. I listened to lots of music. My eyesight was really bad, so I couldn’t read or watch TV, or drive or do anything like that. I relied heavily on my family, and my partner to support me to get me through.

[00:22:21] Maryanne: And it’s those key people that are so significant ingredients for health and wellbeing, isn’t it?

[00:22:29] Rosie: Yep

[00:22:30] Maryanne: The day to day grind, knowing it’s that stability and that consistency of knowing that love’s in your world. That sustains us.

[00:22:38] Rosie:  Yeah to feel loved and be loved, by somebody that you love is everything.

[00:22:46] Maryanne: It is, isn’t it, Rosie? 

[00:22:49] Rosie: Yup, yup.

[00:22:50] Maryanne: It is. And I think, you know, knowing that about yourself and being so raw and truthful about even identifying, that you possibly were depressed. And then making that profound decision to re-enter study and start to reclaim different passions that, you know we’re always a part of you, but they’d obviously been buried there for a while. 

[00:23:13] Rosie: Yeah.

[00:23:13] Maryanne: What do you think helped you with that turning point? Was it, can you, is there any significant moment when you felt, oh, actually, this is, I do wonder, I’m going to re enrol and pursue that study.

[00:23:25] Rosie: I guess when you start to feel well,

[00:23:28]Maryanne: Um, hum.

[00:23:29] Rosie: Certainly makes you want to do more things. I, I just felt so unwell for so many years that I put all my energy went into trying to get better and healing myself. I used to fantasise about a world where I was no longer sick.

[00:23:47] Maryanne: Ooh.

[00:23:47] Rosie: I did deals with God. I prayed. I screamed. I did lots of stuff. I sang lots. I did lots of soul searching in that time. I was constantly looking for the reason why I got sick. 

[00:24:04] Maryanne: Uh huh.

[00:24:05] Rosie: And then suddenly everything just clicked. I guess I got better. I was feeling much more well in myself, and stronger, and positive. 

[00:24:16] Maryanne: Uh huh.

[00:24:17] Rosie: And then I realised that all of those things don’t matter. It doesn’t matter why I was diagnosed. It happened. It changed me. And I just have to go from here.

[00:24:29] Maryanne: Yeah, I love that you’ve said that. That acknowledgement, cause I think there’s a lot to be said about feeling that full of emotion. And then there’s just the turning point, where you accept, okay, this has happened, but what choices can I make? And those choices, you turn that corner and you start making those other choices, those different choices.

[00:24:53] Rosie: Yeah, I always had a favourite saying, and I still say it, most days of my life, and it’s, life doesn’t have to be perfect to be wonderful. And that’s exactly right, hey?

[00:25:05] Maryanne: Absolutely

[00:25:06] Rosie: There’s lots of really wonderful things that can happen in your life without it being perfect. And nobody’s life is truly perfect.

[00:25:15] Maryanne: That’s so true. And yet so simple. I love that, Rosie, very, very true. So when you embarked upon your study to become a registered nurse, did you have any struggles from your treatment days, in adapting to study, adapting to, you know, re entering into the workforce as much as you have, or?

[00:25:35] Rosie: I just embraced it. I finally got this opportunity.

[00:25:39] Maryanne: Um huh.

[00:25:40] Rosie: And I just embraced it. I was in a cohort of about 130.

[00:25:47] Maryanne: Um huh.

[00:25:48] Rosie: And lot of them were younger ones. But I bonded really strongly with a lot of the people in the group and we had a most marvellous time. And we did study groups together. Everyone supported each other, because everyone was scared that they weren’t going to get through.

[00:26:04] Maryanne: Yep.

[00:26:05] Rosie: But I just embraced the whole thing. I really enjoyed every bit of it and did really well at uni.

[00:26:12] Maryanne: And I can see that in your face, you’re beaming with a smile. And I think that smile comes through your voice. That’s wonderful, Rosie. And yes, absolutely an achievement. Because sometimes when, that’s one of the things that we look at here, is supporting people with return to work, and return to study, and that sort of thing, to try and build on that self rapport and that identity that all of us as individuals want to have.

[00:26:38] Rosie: Yeah, I think it’s scary moving forward. But I read a book and the title of it was ‘Feel the Fear, But Do It Anyway’. And it really helped me as well, to know that it was okay to feel frightened about doing things and stepping out of your comfort zone, and doing stuff that you’d never done before. And it really helped me, I think, move forward in not just work, but in life in general.

[00:27:10] Maryanne: Yeah. So the Rosie of today, for those that do receive a blood cancer diagnosis, and do have to go down the pathway of transplant. What would be some key things that you would say if you had the opportunity to sit with them?

[00:27:29] Rosie: It’s a really hard, hard thing to say to someone, but I honestly believe if you can still your mind and not. Don’t go too far ahead of yourself.

[00:27:40] Maryanne: Uh hum.

[00:27:41] Rosie: and think about, oh, but what if this happens? What happens if this happens? And I don’t want to go through that. Just stick with what you’ve been told, by your treating team. And don’t go too far of yourself. Just take it step by step. And don’t get caught up in the worrying about stuff that may or may not happen. The thing that I really learnt, and that really helped me in life, is that control is really just non existent. You think you’ve got everything under control with your diagnosis, and you don’t really. It’s something that you just have to, you have to trust your treating team. And just go with what they tell you to do. And not think, oh I can, if I do this and take these vitamins and pray to God or whatever. It controls an illusion and it’s really, it’s out of your hands to a certain degree. So you need to put your trust into your treating team and listen to them. Really listen to you and trust them. So that’s the main thing that I think I learned, that not listen to everybody else telling me to do these other things and try this and do this. I think it’s just to stay close to your treating team, and listen to what they say and just, just trust them. That they’re on your side. Nobody wants to see you, not do well in your treatment plan. So you need to put your trust into someone.

[00:29:31] Maryanne: That’s wise advice. And, you know, that communication with your treating team is also very important. 

[00:29:36] Rosie: Yeah.

[00:29:37] Maryanne: Ask the questions.

[00:29:40] Rosie: Yes, exactly. Yeah, that’s a big one. And have somebody with you it’s another pair of ears

[00:29:46]  Maryanne: Uh hum.

[00:29:47] Rosie: As well. That’s, or write things down. I wasn’t very good at writing things down. But I had an, always had another pair of ears, that would pick up on the things that I might have missed. Because sometimes you’re in shock, you’re sad, or you’re not even quite on the planet that particular day.

[00:30:06] Maryanne: Very true.

[00:30:09] Rosie: So yeah, another pair of ears is, a very good thing to have with you.

[00:30:14] Maryanne: So trust in the treating team and one of the other messages that I’ve heard you share is, journaling. Whilst you started off really not knowing what value it would bring, you still were committed to the practice. And as a result, you found it healing. Would you say?

[00:30:33] Rosie: I think so, yeah. I stuck with it. I had no idea what I was doing. so I journaled for quite a number of years. And on reflection, when I look back, or when I did look back, when I was still going through my recovery, I could see where I had come from. And I thought, wow, I had some dark times then. I was in a really bad place then. Look how far I’ve come.

[00:31:03] Maryanne: Yes,

[00:31:04] Rosie: So I think in that respect, I did find it quite therapeutic. But I still enjoy every 12 months for my anniversary. I go back through my old journals and I can now laugh at some of the things. Some of the things still bring me to tears. 

[00:31:23] Maryanne: Yeah.

[00:31:24] Rosie: Still a little bit raw.

[00:31:26] Maryanne: I bet it is. Does it make you reflect on how strong and resilient you are?

[00:31:32] Rosie: Oh my word, yeah. You don’t realise, I didn’t give enough credit to my body, or my mind, of how strong I actually am.

[00:31:43] Maryanne: ah,

[00:31:44] Rosie: And yeah, that’s absolutely spot on. When I look back, I think, wow, I have come so, so far.

[00:31:55] Maryanne: So far, Rosie, just so far and also reflecting on. The bonds of those, that your partner and your family and friends who have just rallied beside you. The connections you’ve made in the workplace as an enrolled nurse. And then I’m sure, did you go back to the hospital as a registered nurse?

[00:32:14] Rosie: Yes, I went back to the same hospital. But I decided that I’d had enough of working on the ward. So I ended up working in theatre.

[00:32:22] Maryanne: Lovely.

[00:32:23] Rosie: For the last 20 years. So, it’s nice to, I’ve been in the same place for a long time.

[00:32:29] Maryanne: That in itself is that importance around the connections we make and who we see ourselves, which I think are contributing factors to our health and wellbeing. And, help me out with the, wanting to move towards something like goals, our realisation of what’s important to us in life.

[00:32:48] Rosie: Most definitely, yeah.

[00:32:50] Maryanne: I’ve loved listening to you this afternoon, Rosie. Is there anything else that you’d like to share that hasn’t been covered in our conversation this afternoon?

[00:33:01] Rosie: Yeah, just stay strong. Don’t give up. Trust your treating team. And yeah, just hang in there.

[00:33:10] Maryanne: And that beautiful quote, life doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful. I love that quote.

[00:33:17] Rosie: It’s true, isn’t it? Like, they’re simple words. I think, nowadays era of technology, and Instagram, and Facebook. Everybody appears to have this wonderful, perfect life. And while I don’t reflect on my illness totally, every day, all day, I have to tell everybody that I was once the sick girl. It’s there in the background. My cancer journey will never leave me. It’s now a part of my life, but I have moved beyond it.

[00:33:53] Maryanne: You have. It was a chapter.

[00:33:55] Rosie: Yeah, it was just a chapter in life. One that, it was long and treacherous, but it changed me as a person. It’s made me stronger and that I’ve got more respect for myself. And I like who I am, who I’ve become now.

[00:34:13] Maryanne: How lovely. Congratulations, Rosie, and you are a beautiful person. Having met you that many years ago. I do stand for one, recognising your ability to see through the tough times, your commitment to yourself and to following your passions, and congratulations. Well done.

[00:34:33] Rosie: Thank you, Marianne.

[00:34:34] Maryanne: Thanks for sharing some time with me this afternoon.