Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Territorians are indeed being urged to support the world's greatest
shave this month and help raise funds for blood cancer
support and research. It's a course, it's very close to
home for one of our own. Our sister station Hot
one hundred, our Afternoons presenter Jack Cowen, was diagnosed with
blood cancer at the age of seventeen. In the last
(00:22):
term of Grade twelve, she learned that she had stage
four Hodgkins slim fomer and well she did kick cancers,
but which is wonderful to hear. She joins me in
the studio right now, Jack, good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Good morning Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Wolf's swed interviewing. You know, workmates, very special to say
the lease.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Well, as you know, I'm a big fan of yours,
so I'm very happy to have you in the studio.
And Jack, you know, it's something that a lot of
people probably don't know about you that when you were
seventeen years old you were indeed diagnosed with stage four
Hodgkins limp foma. I mean, what was that like for
you when you're seventeen years old.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
It's tough to think about that period in my life.
It's also a really weird time in a lot of
young females lives. If you think about it, you're going
through so much, you're essentially leaving school, you're taking those
steps to become an adult. You think about buoys a lot,
all those kinds of things. So it was, yeah, it's
a strange time. Plus you've got all the hormones and
(01:28):
you're a teenager and whatever. But yeah, I had no
idea that I had blood cancer. I had all the
signs and the symptoms, but at that point, my prognosis
kept getting pushed back, and I think everyone that was
involved in the situation, including my family and doctors, didn't
believe that that was the case until it got really
really serious. So common symptoms for blood cancer patients or
(01:52):
for a lot of Hodgkins limp fhoma patients is night sweats,
drastically losing weight, and constantly fatigue. So when I finally
found out that I was sick, it was through finding
two massive lymphnodes that had grown over the course of
however long I'd been sick in my neck and also
my groin, and that's when it was like, Okay, this
(02:14):
is really serious. And then within two weeks I'd been
diagnosed with stage four Hodgkins lymphoma.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Like, what was it like for you at seventeen then,
you know, having the doctor deliver a diagnosis like that, because,
as you said, you're seventeen years old. You know, when
I was seventeen years old, I was having a lot
of fun. You know, you're living your best life basically,
So what was it like for you then when that
was what they told you?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
It was really tough. And I think it's important to
also acknowledge the fact that I did end up having
thirty three rounds of chemo, I relapsed three times, and
then I had a stem cell transplant, So that went
over the course of eighteen months. So that was a
really long journey for a seventeen eighteen year old and
I was shook. I didn't understand it. It's kind of
(03:04):
like a ymy, why is this happening to me? I
think to be fair, at that point in time, it
really affected my family and my friends. We're in the
last term of grade twelve. My best friends had to
I was living in Brisbane at the time. They had
to get assistance with their final exams and whatnot because
it was that it was terrifying. It was really really scary.
(03:28):
But I think if anyone's listening to this right now
and who's been through a similar diagnosis, you've kind of
just you've just got to roll with the punches. And yeah,
I definitely grew up at that point in time. I
was forced to grow up real real quick.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
You would have been. And you know, I can say
that you are, like, you're an absolutely inspirational person. When
I first learned that you had gone through that as
a teenager, I mean like I was really surprised, utterly surprised.
And then I you know, I put myself in the
shoes of a mom where I think, oh my goodness,
I can't even like imagine how that must have been
(04:05):
for your whole family and for you, Like, you know,
you're dealing with that and then dealing with it, you know.
I know, like as an adult you might think to yourself,
losing your hair maybe not such a scary thing. As
a seventeen year old girl, that must have been really
traumatic for you.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
It was, and it was on the rise with a
lot of social media as well. I'm kind of that
generation where Instagram was introduced at that point in time,
you know, there's so many beautiful people on the Internet
and what we see on our screens at home, social media, whatever.
So having that influence was yeah, it was huge. And
having to lose your hair is something that I don't
(04:44):
wish upon anyone that they have to go through that
journey in order to lose their hair, because it's really
scary and it's tough.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
And part of your treatment. Unfortunately, you know, it's a
side effect of that treatment. And from what you've just said,
how many rounds of chemo?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
And so I relapsed three times, so sick and then
relapse again, lose all my hair, Yeah, get better, get
sick again. So yeah, I've lost it a few times.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
You have, And you know, cancer is a real roller
coaster and going through something like that. I mean, I
can only speak as somebody who has you know, I
lost my dad to cancer. I know so many people
that are listening to the show have gone through their
own cancer journeys, and it's a real roller coaster. You
go through these absolute triumphs where you're like I am
(05:33):
on top of this, and then you have a relapse
like you've spoken about, and you're back in the depths
of the lowest of lows. But for you, you've overcome
this and you've overcome something that's you know, that is
such a massive thing. Particularly as a teenage girl. I mean,
you might like you must sort of feel like a
(05:54):
real badass where you're like I can take on the
world self pained rock star.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
So it made me grow up incredibly quick and it
made me realize the important things in life, you know,
like my family are everything to me, adventuring, making the
most of every minute and just having a bloody good time,
you know, and doing what I can, and also in
saying that, giving back to people that are going through
this journey and advocating for people who have any issue
(06:20):
with cancer, whether they're directly affected by it with their
own diagnosis or a loved one. We need to support
each other, We need to talk about it, We have
to look out for one another because the stats are
crazy and Australians will be affected whether they like it
or not.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Your spot on there and I think that you know,
this is where the discussion about the world's Greatest shave
really comes into it as well, and the money that's
raised and the inroads that have been made as a
result of that fundraising, because sometimes people think about fundraising
for you know, different illnesses and they go, oh, well,
I'm not really sure where that money goes or what happens.
But the fact is when it comes to cancer research,
(06:57):
when it comes to blood cancer research, the World's Greatest
Shave has had an enormous impact, hasn't it in terms
of progressing that research and the treatment options for people, of.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Course, And it looks after so many people. The Leukemia
Foundation on the World's Greatest Shave, and I really get
behind supporting them. I've worked hand in hand this year,
especially doing a bunch of marketing stuff for them, and
they're beautiful. They just want to give back and they
want to assist these people in whatever way they can do.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
You know how many people every year in Australia are
impacted by blood cancer?
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Well I did look it up before. I believe one
in twelve people in their lifetime will be diagnosed with
a blood cancer, which is crazy when you think about it,
and I think there's about one hundred and fifty thousand
people currently living with a blood cancer diagnosis. I could
be wrong about that, but seventeen people will die alone
(07:53):
today in Australia from a blood cancer diagnosis jack.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Is it an illness that does impact a lot of
young people or is it any age?
Speaker 2 (08:01):
It's very Hodgkins itself is very prominent in young people,
especially under the age of twenty five, which is just crazy,
like you don't want to think about that stuff. But
then there's also non Hodgkins as well, which is very
common in adults as well, which is sad.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Now, how can people support the world's greater shave and
indeed the Lakeimia Foundation.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Well, they can do a bunch of different things. If
shaving your noggin for a qre is not your ideal
situation right out, you can also cut and color your hair.
So for those of you who might have, you know,
like a really long do and you've been sporting it
(08:44):
for a very long time, you can cut it. You
can get a bob that's bold in itself, you don't
have to fully get rid of it. You can also
color it. You can color your mustache. M Well, that's
the same thing, isn't it your beard? I should say,
But there's so many ways that you can get behind it.
There currently thirty people in the NT shaving their heads
in twenty twenty five. However, there are eighty seven hundred
(09:07):
and three people in Australia participating.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
How awesome.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yeah, this is my friends.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
It's one of my beautiful friends, Kate Killiner. I'm pretty
sure that she's actually shaving her head. You got any
plans to do it again?
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Jack?
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I mean, you've lost your hair on a number of occasions.
I think you've done your bit.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
I have, but I've also I'm going to toot my
horn here because i do love to shave my noggin
from time to time. I've done it in twenty twelve,
twenty eighteen, twenty twenty two. I've got three weddings coming up,
so please excuse me. I'm going to keep this mop
for now and then next year. I'm going to do
it next year.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
You and you're such a legend.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Wrangle some of the rest of the career.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Good idea, Good idea, well, Jack. If anybody's after any info,
where's the best place for them to hit?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Jump online look up World's Greatest Shave via their website
if you do need more information. As we said before,
the Leukemia Foundation are in incredible They're there to support
people affected by leukemia and all lymphomas of sorts. So
reach out to them. They're a really, really, really great cause.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Well Jack Cowan, my beautiful friend, my fellow work colleague,
all round legend. Lovely to have you in this studio
this morning.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Thank you. Don't wait to shave your head, Katie.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Thank you,
Territorians are indeed being urged to support the world's greatest
shave this month and help raise funds for blood cancer
support and research. It's a course, it's very close to
home for one of our own. Our sister station Hot
one hundred, our Afternoons presenter Jack Cowen, was diagnosed with
blood cancer at the age of seventeen. In the last
(00:22):
term of Grade twelve, she learned that she had stage
four Hodgkins slim fomer and well she did kick cancers,
but which is wonderful to hear. She joins me in
the studio right now, Jack, good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Good morning Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Wolf's swed interviewing. You know, workmates, very special to say
the lease.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Well, as you know, I'm a big fan of yours,
so I'm very happy to have you in the studio.
And Jack, you know, it's something that a lot of
people probably don't know about you that when you were
seventeen years old you were indeed diagnosed with stage four
Hodgkins limp foma. I mean, what was that like for
you when you're seventeen years old.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
It's tough to think about that period in my life.
It's also a really weird time in a lot of
young females lives. If you think about it, you're going
through so much, you're essentially leaving school, you're taking those
steps to become an adult. You think about buoys a lot,
all those kinds of things. So it was, yeah, it's
a strange time. Plus you've got all the hormones and
(01:28):
you're a teenager and whatever. But yeah, I had no
idea that I had blood cancer. I had all the
signs and the symptoms, but at that point, my prognosis
kept getting pushed back, and I think everyone that was
involved in the situation, including my family and doctors, didn't
believe that that was the case until it got really
really serious. So common symptoms for blood cancer patients or
(01:52):
for a lot of Hodgkins limp fhoma patients is night sweats,
drastically losing weight, and constantly fatigue. So when I finally
found out that I was sick, it was through finding
two massive lymphnodes that had grown over the course of
however long I'd been sick in my neck and also
my groin, and that's when it was like, Okay, this
(02:14):
is really serious. And then within two weeks I'd been
diagnosed with stage four Hodgkins lymphoma.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Like, what was it like for you at seventeen then,
you know, having the doctor deliver a diagnosis like that, because,
as you said, you're seventeen years old. You know, when
I was seventeen years old, I was having a lot
of fun. You know, you're living your best life basically,
So what was it like for you then when that
was what they told you?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
It was really tough. And I think it's important to
also acknowledge the fact that I did end up having
thirty three rounds of chemo, I relapsed three times, and
then I had a stem cell transplant, So that went
over the course of eighteen months. So that was a
really long journey for a seventeen eighteen year old and
I was shook. I didn't understand it. It's kind of
(03:04):
like a ymy, why is this happening to me? I
think to be fair, at that point in time, it
really affected my family and my friends. We're in the
last term of grade twelve. My best friends had to
I was living in Brisbane at the time. They had
to get assistance with their final exams and whatnot because
it was that it was terrifying. It was really really scary.
(03:28):
But I think if anyone's listening to this right now
and who's been through a similar diagnosis, you've kind of
just you've just got to roll with the punches. And yeah,
I definitely grew up at that point in time. I
was forced to grow up real real quick.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
You would have been. And you know, I can say
that you are, like, you're an absolutely inspirational person. When
I first learned that you had gone through that as
a teenager, I mean like I was really surprised, utterly surprised.
And then I you know, I put myself in the
shoes of a mom where I think, oh my goodness,
I can't even like imagine how that must have been
(04:05):
for your whole family and for you, Like, you know,
you're dealing with that and then dealing with it, you know.
I know, like as an adult you might think to yourself,
losing your hair maybe not such a scary thing. As
a seventeen year old girl, that must have been really
traumatic for you.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
It was, and it was on the rise with a
lot of social media as well. I'm kind of that
generation where Instagram was introduced at that point in time,
you know, there's so many beautiful people on the Internet
and what we see on our screens at home, social media, whatever.
So having that influence was yeah, it was huge. And
having to lose your hair is something that I don't
(04:44):
wish upon anyone that they have to go through that
journey in order to lose their hair, because it's really
scary and it's tough.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
And part of your treatment. Unfortunately, you know, it's a
side effect of that treatment. And from what you've just said,
how many rounds of chemo?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
And so I relapsed three times, so sick and then
relapse again, lose all my hair, Yeah, get better, get
sick again. So yeah, I've lost it a few times.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
You have, And you know, cancer is a real roller
coaster and going through something like that. I mean, I
can only speak as somebody who has you know, I
lost my dad to cancer. I know so many people
that are listening to the show have gone through their
own cancer journeys, and it's a real roller coaster. You
go through these absolute triumphs where you're like I am
(05:33):
on top of this, and then you have a relapse
like you've spoken about, and you're back in the depths
of the lowest of lows. But for you, you've overcome
this and you've overcome something that's you know, that is
such a massive thing. Particularly as a teenage girl. I mean,
you might like you must sort of feel like a
(05:54):
real badass where you're like I can take on the
world self pained rock star.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
So it made me grow up incredibly quick and it
made me realize the important things in life, you know,
like my family are everything to me, adventuring, making the
most of every minute and just having a bloody good time,
you know, and doing what I can, and also in
saying that, giving back to people that are going through
this journey and advocating for people who have any issue
(06:20):
with cancer, whether they're directly affected by it with their
own diagnosis or a loved one. We need to support
each other, We need to talk about it, We have
to look out for one another because the stats are
crazy and Australians will be affected whether they like it
or not.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Your spot on there and I think that you know,
this is where the discussion about the world's Greatest shave
really comes into it as well, and the money that's
raised and the inroads that have been made as a
result of that fundraising, because sometimes people think about fundraising
for you know, different illnesses and they go, oh, well,
I'm not really sure where that money goes or what happens.
But the fact is when it comes to cancer research,
(06:57):
when it comes to blood cancer research, the World's Greatest
Shave has had an enormous impact, hasn't it in terms
of progressing that research and the treatment options for people, of.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Course, And it looks after so many people. The Leukemia
Foundation on the World's Greatest Shave, and I really get
behind supporting them. I've worked hand in hand this year,
especially doing a bunch of marketing stuff for them, and
they're beautiful. They just want to give back and they
want to assist these people in whatever way they can do.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
You know how many people every year in Australia are
impacted by blood cancer?
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Well I did look it up before. I believe one
in twelve people in their lifetime will be diagnosed with
a blood cancer, which is crazy when you think about it,
and I think there's about one hundred and fifty thousand
people currently living with a blood cancer diagnosis. I could
be wrong about that, but seventeen people will die alone
(07:53):
today in Australia from a blood cancer diagnosis jack.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Is it an illness that does impact a lot of
young people or is it any age?
Speaker 2 (08:01):
It's very Hodgkins itself is very prominent in young people,
especially under the age of twenty five, which is just crazy,
like you don't want to think about that stuff. But
then there's also non Hodgkins as well, which is very
common in adults as well, which is sad.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Now, how can people support the world's greater shave and
indeed the Lakeimia Foundation.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Well, they can do a bunch of different things. If
shaving your noggin for a qre is not your ideal
situation right out, you can also cut and color your hair.
So for those of you who might have, you know,
like a really long do and you've been sporting it
(08:44):
for a very long time, you can cut it. You
can get a bob that's bold in itself, you don't
have to fully get rid of it. You can also
color it. You can color your mustache. M Well, that's
the same thing, isn't it your beard? I should say,
But there's so many ways that you can get behind it.
There currently thirty people in the NT shaving their heads
in twenty twenty five. However, there are eighty seven hundred
(09:07):
and three people in Australia participating.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
How awesome.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yeah, this is my friends.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
It's one of my beautiful friends, Kate Killiner. I'm pretty
sure that she's actually shaving her head. You got any
plans to do it again?
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Jack?
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I mean, you've lost your hair on a number of occasions.
I think you've done your bit.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
I have, but I've also I'm going to toot my
horn here because i do love to shave my noggin
from time to time. I've done it in twenty twelve,
twenty eighteen, twenty twenty two. I've got three weddings coming up,
so please excuse me. I'm going to keep this mop
for now and then next year. I'm going to do
it next year.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
You and you're such a legend.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Wrangle some of the rest of the career.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Good idea, Good idea, well, Jack. If anybody's after any info,
where's the best place for them to hit?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Jump online look up World's Greatest Shave via their website
if you do need more information. As we said before,
the Leukemia Foundation are in incredible They're there to support
people affected by leukemia and all lymphomas of sorts. So
reach out to them. They're a really, really, really great cause.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Well Jack Cowan, my beautiful friend, my fellow work colleague,
all round legend. Lovely to have you in this studio
this morning.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Thank you. Don't wait to shave your head, Katie.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Thank you,
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