Ep199: Living With Cancer for 30 Years, Then Her Doctor Said: "It's Gone!"

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
If you hadn't done what you've now done, would you be alive
right now? No, yeah, it's just that simple.
Yeah, I wouldn't have been alivewith.
Rabbit. Hey, I'm Rabbit.
I record this podcast inside a cute little retro caravan from
1967 that I tore around all overthe place.

(00:22):
My fan podcast with Rabbit. I got an e-mail just recently,
it was just this week actually from a couple that have been
following the pod van. Actually, we have history going
right back to when I was on the radio with Julie and they said
we'd like to come on and tell you a bit about our story.

(00:43):
Now, usually when I get those, they're crazy people.
And these ones were as well. And but my kind of crazy.
John and Nick. Hi, guys.
There's a lot of history, which is funny to hear between us.
But I wanted to start with a super dramatic question because

(01:04):
I've seen. Yeah.
And it's to you because I've seen an hour long interview with
you on YouTube. And my question for you is, if
you hadn't done what you've now done, would you be alive right
now? No, Yeah.
No, I, no. It's just that simple.

(01:28):
Yeah. I wouldn't have been alive.
No. And that's all we've got time
for. No, I I can honestly say our
journey in the last 16 months would have ended not in a very

(01:51):
positive way. And you both were kind of
accepting of that? Yeah, absolutely.
Right. You got to that point.
Yeah. So we'll go through all of that
and what's happened. It's a crazy story.
But before we do, what's the history between?
So you guys used to listen on the radio, You actually listen
to the I think you said that youlisten to the podcast on the job

(02:13):
site. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. So I'm, I'm a Carpenter by
trade. We actually spoke on the phone,
on the radio because you were talking about carpentry and how
you'd like doing DIY and all that sort of stuff.
I was made redundant back in 2018 from an IT job of, you
know, 20 plus years. Couldn't get another job in the
industry. Really.
Yeah, it was just time of year. It was November, so it was right

(02:36):
before Christmas. I don't know if that was it or
what, but Nikki was running a interior design business as well
as a hair salon. So we had other sort of building
jobs going. And I started working with the
Carpenter on the weekends. And then Nikki just sort of said
to me, well, what do you want todo?
And I said, well, why don't I just do carpentry?
So I went and got an apprenticeship with a builder,

(02:58):
had a huge pay cut for the threeyears that it took to do that
and then here I am now running my own business doing carpentry
and loving it so. We were talking outside the pod
van just before jumping in abouthow the things come along that
at the time are so horrible, andthen you can look back and it's
actually the best thing. Yeah, yeah, It's like you said.

(03:20):
I mean, when I was made redone, I on the phone and Nikki like,
like you bawling my eyes out, like just what do I do?
Like I was the main money earnerat the time.
Yeah. And.
To hear your husband, you know, so heartbroken and lost and, you
know, it was sad to hear his voice that way.

(03:40):
And I, I just thought, no, we'renot going to let this situation
bring us down ever because he worked hard and he was good at
what he did. But as I said to him, it was a
long time as well where he wasn't happy in the job and he
just kept going in, you know, grinding it like everybody does.

(04:02):
They go to work, they grind and get get through their day the
best way they can. Yeah, being the other person,
you're still working. I had my businesses and I was
lucky to be able to say, you know, I was in a successful
business. Come on, I don't care what you
do. I just want to be here.

(04:22):
I wanna love you and we're gonnaget through this no matter what.
I found while watching this interview with you guys on
YouTube, there's so, so many similarities between you 2 and
Sav and I Yeah. And there was a moment where I
don't know if you've heard, I have spoken about it.
I think over in it was in another city when I had a

(04:43):
feeling that I was going to get that meeting every two years.
Your contracts up in radio and you've it's never a given.
And I tell that to people and they're like, if the ratings are
going great and everything's going good, then why would they
put seen it happen so many times?
Yeah. And that was a big shock when
that happened to you. It was like you were #1 like,

(05:05):
yeah. Number one and, and to be
followers of, you know, Rabbit and Julie in the morning, you'd
wake up, you know, at 5:30 and you knew it was gonna come on in
the radio like the morning radioshow.
And it was exciting to hear it. But then all of a sudden and it
was funny. It was a good way to start your
day. It was great.
But to hear it end, we were sad.It was sadness for you, it was

(05:29):
sadness for the listeners, but it was an understanding and we
knew what you were feeling because we had lived a situation
similar. But to have that morning finish,
it didn't feel right and you were wondering where's Rabbit
gone? Like where has Rabbit gone?
Because Rabbit was a start of your day.

(05:52):
He made you smile and laugh, so it was a really good feeling.
That was a big thing that was, yeah, I've talked all about my
anxiety and everything in my mental health.
So that was a horrible time for me.
But one of the toughest things through that was I wasn't
allowed to tell anybody what I was doing.
For starters, I didn't know whatI was going to be doing.
But then once I started formulating this plan, which

(06:14):
really, when I look back at it and I look at the photos, I
mean, it's a nice surprise. I don't muck around.
I think I finished on air on the9th of December.
December. It was the first week, yeah,
because we hadn't even gotten into Christmas.
And I'm like, yeah, where's he gone?
Yeah, well, I was driving down to Melbourne to go and pick up
this little caravan. I had the pod van back before

(06:38):
Christmas. Yeah, right.
And started working on it up on the street and yeah, again.
But couldn't talk about what I was going to be, couldn't be
saying I was going into podcasting or anything.
Yeah, just too scared of. I don't know if anything would
be done or or. If you, you were an honest
person, you lived like an honestworld.
You were honest within yourself and you you abided by rules, so

(06:59):
you didn't wanna say. More scared of them taking my
money. I had long service leave and
holidays to be paid out still. We need that.
Haven't got that yet. That's for the pod van and I.
Knew I was going from the paycheck on December 15th to
nothing. Yeah, you know, for the next one
and. It's.
Tough, yeah, And it is tough. Yeah, and you know, like you
said, I've had so many people come up to me around that time

(07:22):
saying they knew exactly what I was going through because they
had gone through the same thing as well.
The graphic designer who designed the pod van logo from
Archangel Design. He'd been through the exact
same. Thing with the business, I
remember you talking about it inone of your podcasts.
Yes, so many, it's happened to so many people.
And if it hasn't happened to you, you, you can't understand

(07:45):
it because it's more than just the job.
Like where it was for me was my identity.
Everybody knew Rabbit. Everyone.
Everyone knew Rabbit and Jewel. The radios was your life.
Radio was my life. That way of my entire career,
over 30 years of being on the radio and that moment where I

(08:05):
realized all the other brekkie shows had named their what they
were doing in the market, and that meant we'd have to move.
We've moved 18. Times like.
That I can't remember the the total now.
Yeah. But I knew that we weren't gonna
be moving again. And so is that the end of radio?
That's the thing, too, as a listener, which you probably

(08:25):
don't quite hear or understand too.
We knew, like the listeners, that you'd purchased the house.
You were doing things on the House.
The two kids were at school. You know, Sav had her job.
Like, you came home, you cooked,you did.
You laughed. You had this connection with
your family on the coast. Yeah.
So people lived your life through radio as well as through
Rabbit and Julie. And when it just disappeared, I

(08:49):
could not fathom how harsh your emotions on your family and your
lifestyle would have been how you felt.
There's no answer to that. And nobody knows these
situations and nobody can even tell you you shouldn't be
anxious or you shouldn't be depressed.
I'm going to say that word or flat or lost because you don't

(09:11):
have the answers to what's next.What am I going to do and how am
I going to feel worthy of keep going to support my family?
Yeah, that's the thing. You don't know at that time.
And I'm a very positive person. I always, my sister always says,
you know, you're a jammy bastard.
Like everything just works out well.

(09:36):
I I could choose to look at so many things, like when I move to
a new market, to a new station or whatever, I just make the
most of it and go, this is great, this is grand.
I don't focus on the bad. There's always bad things there.
Is there is, but you've got to focus on the positive.
Yeah, but that time totally different.
Yeah. Also the thing I was going to
say about how you're so similar with what you said to John was

(09:57):
when in this other city, when I had the feeling the thing was
coming with the radio station and I was really upset over
because I didn't know what was going to be next.
Just had a baby and Sav said to me, I loved you and you earned
$21,000 a year and I will again.It doesn't.

(10:17):
Yeah, it doesn't. It doesn't matter.
We'll we'll make it work becauseshe said.
Never forget the line, she said.Do you want to go in there
tomorrow and tell them to shove it up their ass?
Go for it. And all of the pressure came off
the shoulders because it was just like.
You don't want to let your partner down.
Very similar, actually. Really.

(10:38):
Because Nikki said to me the same thing if you want to tell
him to. I'm telling him to shove that up
here. Hello.
She said go for. It you go for it because there's
nothing we can't get through. There's nothing.
Don't you just feel the weight come off the shoulders then as
well? It's like you kind of feel like,
OK, well, I've got to pass through, yeah.
Yeah. Love when you find that person,

(11:00):
though, and you can be yourself.Yeah.
And laugh, really laugh when I talk about really laugh and cry
and be vulnerable and have your weakest moments.
And they don't judge you. Yeah.
And they just love you. You 2 holding hands in here?
I think you're the first couple that's held hand in the hands in
the pod van. And you've been together since

(11:22):
high school. You knew each other from 13.
Yeah, we get together in high school.
No. Nikki Oh really?
Nikki just left to start her apprenticeship Yeah.
Oh OK. So I was in year 10, yeah, and
Nikki was starting her apprenticeship when we first.
We finished year 10, oh year 11,started a year 11 and I started
my apprenticeship. Yeah, yeah, OK.
But always friends at school, same group of people just
growing together through high school.

(11:43):
Like John's sister was one of myclosest friends, but I always
had like a bit of a connection to John.
We just got on we. All had the same friends.
So yeah, even though after we broke up after that, yeah, we
all went to the same parties. Yeah, kept in because we were
together after school. Yeah.
And then we broke up after a year and a half and we just went
our own way, but stayed friends,so.

(12:03):
And he was with somebody, I'd besingle, I was with somebody
here, was single. And it was literally like this
lifestyle we were leaving passing ships in the night.
Until what age? 21.
Yeah, OK. Yeah.
And then it was just like, bang,yeah.
Just we were both single. Single and yeah.

(12:25):
And I actually it's. Like a ROM com.
Yeah, you came back from a Take That concert.
I did take that. We were living at home wish, I
was living at home wish with thehouse full of other guys.
So yeah, five bedroom house, five guys.
You can imagine what it was like.
Yeah, Mickey's come back dropping a cousin of one of the
the mates off from the Take Thatconcert and we just sort of
started talking again and have alook back since really.

(12:46):
Yeah, so I've been sitting here thinking, am I gonna chop all of
this out? Not.
Not really talking about what wecame on for, but.
We started going If you hadn't done what you'd done, would you
be alive today? No.
No. Anyway, let's have some laughs.
Well, that was so serious. Let's bring some laughter into

(13:07):
this I. Was thinking at one point
through there, someone's sittingthere going yeah, look, what
about what about the first this?And I have been sitting here
thinking am I gonna chop this out and put this as a separate
section or something? But no, I think no.
Where we go from here? Yeah.
Now, now we all know you guys. You know what you'd?
Be honest, that answer that I gave you, no, I would not be

(13:30):
here today has a lot to do with that little story you just
heard. Because without that story and
the love that we have and the respect that we have for each
other and the positive thoughts that we now have towards life, I
wouldn't be sitting here alive. I would not have that.
And stories like yours, watchingthat whole hour long chat this

(13:52):
morning, then I come and sit in here and we start talking about,
you know, when I lost my job on the radio and that you can, I
can look back on that and go, that's nothing when you're here,
what you've been through. I don't believe Robert.
This is honest. Honestly from my heart, I don't
believe anybody situation in life is worse than anybody

(14:14):
elses. I actually believe with all my
heart that most people have a degree of heartache and they go
through a lot of things. It's just what they can tolerate
and there should be no level of what people should be judged at.
You should go and basically handle life the way you can
handle it and nobody should be judged for that.

(14:35):
Doesn't matter if you're you've been through what we've been
through or what you've been through.
I think we all go through our own heartaches.
Nobody should be judged. I did an episode with ex
paramedic Adrian Davis just recently and he said that thing
and he hears it all the time of people going, oh, you know,

(14:56):
women will say, thank God my husband was home because when
something has happened, it's because I, I wouldn't have been
able to do whatever the thing was in this emergency.
And he's like, but you would have, you know, yeah, that's the
thing. You deal with things when you
need to. That's whatever comes along in
your life. You, you deal with that.

(15:16):
Yeah, it may not be the same as.Someone else's, yeah.
So the second thing that I was going to say to you after my
opening statement, OK, was now this interview will not be like
your other one. Thank God.
So I had a timer. I didn't have a timer running on

(15:36):
it, but I was well aware while watching.
You talk to Dave Mack. Yeah.
And it was 28 minutes before he said anything.
Yeah. He's that's, that's his style.
He kind of, yeah. He just lets you tell your
story. Obviously if you have a less
responsive person he'll jump in and prompt with questions and
stuff, but generally it's letting the person tell their

(15:57):
story. So that's his thing.
That's because I was watching this just going.
I mean, First off, mad respect to him to be able to sit in the
silence. Yeah.
And yeah, just go with that. I was in awe of the two of you
talking for 28 minutes about this, not prompted with

(16:18):
questions or anything. Makes a little more sense now
that you know that's his style. You just get on and you tell
your story. And so, yeah, that was going to
be my note. It's not quite going to be like
that, but I have asked my wife to watch your whole video
because that's just blown away by the whole thing.

(16:39):
I think if you go straight into it saying what the what you're
doing with your lifestyle, I don't know, is that a thing
where some people can look at you a bit like you're crazy?
Yeah, you're a Nutter. Yeah, A.
Couple of nutters. Yeah, totally.
Yeah. It's also why I wanted to
establish they're not. They're really not.

(17:01):
No, but it's hard to comprehend what we do because people, they
just think what they're doing that to get that outcome.
Yeah. And in such a short time
compared to the long story that we had that came behind it,
Yeah. How can it work?
But it does work and. And that's all the time we've

(17:22):
got for today. Just keep finding the worst time
to end, please. I love that you've joined me on
my cryptic journey. You're like, oh, OK, we're not
telling people. Until the next episode. 4 hours,
I'm gonna run out of space. We never found out what the

(17:43):
thing was. Ah, where do we even?
Start. Well, basically, I guess it
comes back down to John and I are carnivores.
That's it. There you go, It comes back down
to. Finish it there.
But no, we ate the carnivore way.
But with that we found carnivoredue to the fact that I have had

(18:05):
in the past, I'm gonna rephrase that cancer and.
Yeah, but let's go back through.The all of it.
Yeah, it started like. 16 I. Was 16.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And what was that?
My cancer. Yeah.
What I had found again in the uterol area, they'd found cancer
cells in my uterus when I was 16.

(18:25):
They'd removed them operable, not having to have any treatment
and so forth. So that was very good.
And then it was again at 19, I had the second bout again the
same area kept attacking my uterus and basically growing,
you know, little tumours that just kept coming up and
contained, which was great. And then they removed them and

(18:48):
still just operable, which was fantastic.
Great. In that time period, you know,
I'd had amount of surgeries thathad, I had to remove everything
had damaged that area. So I was not able to have
children and they told me that Iwould never carry a child.
What age is this? This is around 19.

(19:09):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 19 to 20. You get back together in 20. 21
He knew all this because John came and saw me in the hospital.
Really. Yeah, yeah.
So every time, like I went in at16 and John came and saw me.
Then the first time I was diagnosed with my mum was there,
my sisters. And he thought it was great

(19:29):
because I was on all this pain relief medication.
And he was like, you know, just ask all these questions.
I found out. But he saw the journey from the
beginning and growing together and being kids and like then
going into this state of mind where, OK, I can't have children
and still at 21, I trying very hard not to get emotional, OK,

(19:54):
because I tend to get the tears drop every now and then.
So I'm very sorry. I know you can now.
Yeah, I know what you. Can get the tears up and then he
says to you rap so but The thingis that I admired him even more
at the fact that when we do get back together like because we
were together as kids and then we broke up and then we got back
together at 21. He still wanted to be with me

(20:16):
and I couldn't have children andI was just in awe of how much he
really cared for me and loved me.
For a woman to have a strong manthat's powerful and he was this
gentleman like he was beautiful,kind, loving and just saw me.
I was blessed instantly blessed.But we were together and we got

(20:41):
married and it was great. And then we had our first child.
I fell pregnant and I was utterly gobsmacked to the point
where it's a funny story in the beginning because when I found
out I was pregnant, I'd I rang John I.
Said you can't be you. Can't be.
You're not supposed to be. But I said to him, I've got to

(21:03):
tell you, I'm pregnant. And he goes, what?
And then he said, hold on a minute, say again.
I said, I'm pregnant. And he goes, you can't be, you
can't be pregnant. I said, well, I'm pregnant.
Do I need to tell you how it happened?
Because it's like, I'm pregnant.And he was like, Oh my God, Oh
my God. It was amazing.
I was in disbelief. So was he.
And then the pregnancy went on and it was not a successful

(21:28):
pregnancy. Second trimester, we lost our
daughter. So I'd given birth to our first
daughter and she didn't make it.And then I'd had it's.
Very hard for you. That was very hard for me.
I I went quite into a pit of despair because I'd felt like
I'd let him down. I gave him a glimpse, glimpse of

(21:48):
hope for our marriage and givinghim a child would have been like
the icing on the cake. Isn't it funny how you say I
felt like I'd let him down? There's no way he would think
that. And anyone else outside of your
mind would go. That's silly.
Yeah. You're not letting anyone down.
No. But as a woman, like, like, and

(22:10):
you love this person so much, you want to give him the gift of
life. Like, you want to see half of
him and half of me walking around on this earth, as crazy
as it is. But you still want that.
You want to see that. Yeah.
And and then we went on to, you know, talking about it and I
said, no, I don't know if I could go again this.

(22:31):
It really did my head in. I actually went into quite a
depressive state. And I'm a very, very positive
person. Very.
Don't think we were married at that point, were we?
I don't know. We're engaged to be married.
We brought the, I brought the wedding forward because
obviously that was quite a hard time.
Yeah, so I said to her, well, let's let's get married.
Let's have something positive. Yeah.
And I was like, no, no, I don't want to get married.

(22:53):
I don't want to be with you. I don't want to.
I don't want us anymore. And really, Yeah, I said it's
time to walk away. Again.
Yeah. Yeah, I said you need to have
more in your life. You deserve more.
Like you could deserve way more.So I'm going to let you go.
I love you that much. I want you to go and find it.
There's kind of a lot of back history and I know with your

(23:16):
podcast you talk about mental health and all that sort of
stuff. There's a lot more to Nikki's
story before as well with the father and that sort of stuff.
And that kind of is why she's like, you deserve more.
I'm not good enough, that sort of thing.
That's from that so. I mean, that episode I did with
Heather recently where she talksabout your childhood trauma

(23:38):
comes your adulthood trauma witheverything and every way, every
part of who we are as adults wasshaped from something.
Yeah. And that can be positive as
well. Yeah.
Yes, positive and and negative. Yeah.
Yeah. The way you react in situations
as a result of. Post traumatic stress, yeah.
Yeah, which is everything that'shappened to you in your life,

(24:00):
shapes you and the way you reactto things.
And I actually live by that motto that what breaks you makes
you. That's my motto.
What breaks you will make you a better person.
And I always believed, even though my past tense, because I
came from a divorced family. I came from, you know, a father
who was an understanding, he just did not comprehend how

(24:21):
people's emotions and feelings were.
I just lived with that. I carried that like it was my
fault that he was this way and so did my sisters and and so
forth. But The thing is that I didn't
want him to be let down. And that did come back from my
past and and so forth. But he was the stronger man and
the stronger person in our relationship.

(24:41):
Brought our wedding forward withthe help of my mum and they just
did it. And I'm like, no, I don't want
to get married. You're.
Still. Saying that, I'm like, no, I
don't want this, I don't want this.
But he was like, tough, I'm not going anywhere.
I'm not going anywhere. So you're gonna have to put out
with me. Wow.
So he pushed me through this dark time and again.
He had my back and he pushed me through and and off we went and

(25:04):
got married and it was wonderfullike.
What age is this? 202323 We were, yeah.
So after the wedding, everything's going great, yeah.
And then still. Hard for her.
I wanted another kid. I wanted to try again.
And I didn't want children. And she wasn't quite there yet,
but again, I just persisted. Yeah.

(25:26):
And. It was really hard to the loss
like of our daughter. It took my heart like it broke
me. And I've I've never been broken.
I've never been broken. But like your child is, yeah,
it's horrible. It's really hard.
And to see her. And then you hold her and she's

(25:49):
gone. You go okay, like what am I here
for? Another thing from the episode
with Adrian, he was saying that because he's got PTSD and he
said that trauma doesn't know dates.
It doesn't get any easier. No, I've had so many other
things since then I've had to battle through and deal with and

(26:12):
and made me stronger. It basically what it did.
It just kept me going and made me forget.
But there's times in my life where it comes up and then all
of a sudden it just yeah. And you just have to ride the
roller coaster. You have to OK, so it cancer
doesn't just like disappear. No, it doesn't.

(26:33):
No, no. So my knees are blood cancer and
basically it, it just creeps through the body and all of a
sudden bang for guys. But I had a like a
susceptibility to that area being weak.
And that's where it just kept coming up.
So I'd had endometriosis, I'd had polycystic ovary syndrome,
and I just had a weakness in that area.

(26:55):
But it came up and there was allthese little tiny tumors, but
they never sort of went away. They stayed sort of dormant.
If you would want to say it thatway, it's the best way to
explain it for people that you don't understand.
So after we got married, John really wanted a baby.
So I was like, OK, I need to look into this and I need to

(27:17):
step up and let's have a baby and get my head around.
It's OK, It's OK. We can do this together.
And when she made that decision 2 weeks later, she was pregnant.
No, I had my breathing, I had a register, I had a driver very
long. I had a reconstruct, A utero
reconstruction prior to that twoweek happiness that John just

(27:38):
explained. And that was two weeks of
happiness and it worked and my doctor was really happy with it.
And he was like, you know, don'tdon't worry about it, just
everything's repaired, everything's good, you've healed
well, this was like a year on. So I let my body sort of recoup
and then we feel pregnant with our daughter who is here today

(28:02):
with us. She's 26 on Friday this week.
Ohh wow. Yeah, we had Ariana and
Beautiful. Name.
Thank you. Never heard that name.
Yeah, Ariana, of course, but yeah, Ariana.
No I I do love my girls names. I live and breathe that I love
their names. Cayenne was our.
First, Cayenne was our first daughter, right?
And Ariana is our daughter like today here on this earth.

(28:26):
So that was great. But she was premature.
She. Was premier so I feel pregnant
all good 11 weeks I thought, this doesn't feel right.
Went to the doctors and he's like, you're starting to dilate,
you're going to miscarriage. 11 weeks yeah, I was starting to
have miscarriage and he was likeno, no, no, no, no, no.
So we've been through too much to get to this point into

(28:46):
surgery. I went.
They basically do sutra stitch to keep my uterus closed through
the cervix. Yeah.
So they close the cervix. So you close the door. close the
door. You're.
Not coming out you're. Staying in there?
Yeah, you're staying in there and you're baking away, baby,
There's bun. I'm done.
That's it. And that was it.

(29:07):
I was hospitalised and I couldn't move.
I wasn't allowed to do anything.For how long?
Till I had her. So I went into labour at 23
weeks and four days. Yeah, I'm not good on this
stuff, but I'm pretty sure what's it meant to be?
What's a normal? 40 weeks I.
Thought it was 40. Yeah, 23.
Four days. Yeah, Yep, Yep.

(29:30):
So. 600 grams or something? 592g.
Yeah. Yeah, wow, 200.
Blocks of chocolate bigger than that.
So you put your two hands together and that was her from
head to toe. She's sort of, no, that's sort
of big, you know? Yeah, tiny.
Just tiny. You know how right from the
start of this, we haven't fully gone into all the detail?

(29:51):
Like, we've teased a lot of things and that I love that we
know that she turns 26 on Fridaybecause everything you're saying
right now feels like it's about to be a horrible twist.
In this story, but like. No, this one, no, this one works
out OK. Yeah.
Is she healthy? She's so.
Healthy. Very good.
Really. Yes.
We were told otherwise. We're told, you know, blindness.

(30:13):
Yeah. Mental.
Yeah, problems. Again, she wanted to be here
early. Oh yeah, and she's wanted to be
here ever since. So she's she's proved them all
wrong. All wrong is.
She always early to things like.She's on time all the time.
She's on time, yeah. All the time, yeah.
Doesn't like to be late. Doesn't like to be late.
Yeah. And.
And she's and she's positive, very determined.
Yeah, very. You know, you look at her and

(30:34):
the only thing that would give her away, she's 5 foot nothing.
That's it. Really tiny.
That's it. Do you know, have you looked
into what's the earliest someone's had a baby in their?
I can't think you mean gestational period.
That's. Exactly what I was gonna say,
but I thought it was gonna be wrong 'cause I had gestational
period in my life. The earliest I've ever heard of
yeah was 22 weeks, Yeah. And what were you, 2620?

(30:57):
324 days. Four days, yeah.
Really like, have you looked it up or that's.
Yeah. No, no, I looked it.
No, I looked it up 'cause at thetime I was.
I was at the time she was one ofthe youngest.
She was, she was the youngest atthe hospital 'cause we had her
at Westmead. Wow.
And they were unbelievable. They were phenomenal.
She. Was born in August 1st. 1st of

(31:17):
August. And we didn't get home till the.
December. Christmas.
Yeah. Oh right, she had to continue
cooking. In there she was in the
incubator for a little while. Yeah, in the fake oven, yeah.
And in the humi crib and basically, and she goes from
intensive care 123 and then theygo to special care and then
she's gonna learn everything outside the womb.

(31:38):
So she didn't know how to suck and feed.
She didn't know how to like handmovements, like all her
coordination. Didn't hear her cry until she
was. At least eight weeks.
Yeah, 'cause she had a tube downthe throat.
So and we knew she was, you know, pain.
Her face was crying. But you couldn't.
You couldn't hear her. Ohhh.
Yeah. But tough times there.

(31:59):
Yeah, I know the rest of what's coming in your story and that's
enough. The rest of the story you've
gone through this as well, like.Yeah, but what breaks you makes
you so to me, I believe going through all of that and her
being sick and she was incredible fighting.
She was there every day. I just wanted to love my baby

(32:21):
like, and any mother, any motherand any father would do exactly
that for their children. I don't, you know, doubt that at
all. Yeah, but you were there every
day. Yeah, I just, I had to believe
at the time I was going to walk away with my baby in my arms.
And that's what kept me going. And I would, I would sit with

(32:44):
her and I, I would tell the nurses, the more contact I have
with her through my through the humidity crib because everything
was closed down. They got the oxygen going in
there. And like she was had a main
arterial line in her arm and youcould see through her chest, her
heart was pounding, like her ears hadn't even popped because
I was still stuck to her head. And it really laugh about it

(33:05):
now, but like her bottom and herfront area was all one because
there was no progression of growth.
There was nothing. So it was incredible.
And I said to them, you need me to, I need to touch her as much
as I can so she can feel my touch and know that mum's here
today like every day. And I would stay for her cares

(33:26):
and then I would, you know, rushoff and grab a coffee or as
soon. As Nikki was allowed to do stuff
with her, yeah, she got in thereand.
You've heard those Heather episodes.
That's the it's hands so important.
It's so important. And as much as they're not
necessarily forming the thoughtsabout, oh, that's mom and boba,
Yeah, the neural pathways are connecting and that's.

(33:46):
That's right. It's the touch, it's the smell.
It's everything. Yeah, it's really important.
OK, I am safe, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And because she wasn't in my room, I would talk to her so she
could hear my voice still. Like, she was in my womb and I
was touching her and doing her cares and, like, putting a
little blankie over and whateverI needed to do, I just wanted.

(34:07):
I just wanted my baby. Yeah.
Yeah. And And there was never any
conversation around her. My biggest rule in my family was
if you're gonna have a conversation at all, it's not to
be around Ariana. You go outside and you talk.
It's not positive, Yeah. And.
Right. No positive.
If it's not positive at all, or you go in and you say basically,
you know, look at her, she's, you know, doing well and so

(34:28):
forth, and you can see her. But everything else happens out
front. So don't come inside and have
any negative. No negative, none, because I
didn't want that. I believed in positive.
She's getting better. She's growing.
Yeah. I'm having my baby come home.
Did you know at the time that you were doing this thing?
Because it's, I mean, just in the last year of talking to
Heather, I've learned so much about this whole neural pathways

(34:51):
being formed and that and you can change them as you go on in
life, but it takes work. But but your core being is
established in the first four years and your beliefs and how
safe you feel and all of these things.
Did you know what you were doing?
No. Then no, I had no idea.
I just knew what loss was and I knew what gain I would get by

(35:18):
making sure this beautiful daughter I have in front of me
was going to feel all the love that lives in my heart for her.
That's it. I still to this day, I'll grab
her and I'll kiss and hug her and I say, God, I love you.
Like I could squeeze the love out of you and into my from my
heart, into you because you're crazy.
And Mama said one day you'll feel the same love.

(35:40):
Yeah. And you'll understand.
And it's still like that. It's still we laugh, we talk,
but we're super close and. She knows all these stories,
yeah. Yeah, she lived it.
Yeah. She's she knows her story.
Yeah. Yeah.
Absolutely. Yeah.
Yeah. That's so that's well, that's
great. Let's end the story there.
Everything and and they all lived.

(36:00):
Happily. Ever after Have you been to
Guandalan Bowling Club? They're right there on the
shores of Lake Macquarie. They do delicious meals upstairs
in the Four Shore Bistro and Cafe which is run by the Dish
Catering Group so you know it's good stuff and you can dine out
on the balcony looking out over the lake.
It is beautiful. They got the cute little 4 shore

(36:21):
kiosk for a coffee and snacks right by the jetty.
The entertainment's top notch. They've got Friday night seafood
raffles and Sunday sessions withlive music in the beer garden.
You wanna find out what's happening at the club, check out
their Facebook page or visit gwandalenbowlingclub.com dot AU.
King Compa Mitre Chan have been big supporters of the Pod Dan
podcast right from the start andyou get all the stuff from them

(36:44):
that you'd expect to. You get plans, you get all the
Weber stuff, you get all the steel gear, the amazing
principal kitchens. But it's the stuff that you
don't expect like that because they come in with 46,000 colour
sample swatches. She's big in colour for her
kitchen cupboards. I drew a little down to 4
colours for her and that took him out an hour and a half.
She got very emotional because she was so inundated with

(37:05):
colours. Towards the end she was kind of
picking up the colours again. I said no stop.
I've seen photos, seen videos. Her husband's come in and gave
me a big hug saying thank you somuch 'cause you're getting very
emotional about it. And she's super happy that's
what she got. And the mighty helpful King
Campbell, Mighty Jen podcast with Rabbit.

(37:25):
Six months after I had Ariana, Iactually had found out I was not
feeling very well after I had got her home and I was very
tired and very lethargic, just feeling very off all the time
and just not right. So I went and saw my Doctor Who
I'd already seen my oncologist in the past, and I said to him,

(37:47):
I need an appointment, run the bloods, let's check things out.
And long behold, they found cancer.
And I just knew it was back. Yeah.
So. I've spoken to others on the
podcast and as a young girl, Molly Croft from Dubbo, as she
was, and, yeah, from a young agewith cancer, and she knows that

(38:08):
with hers. Yeah, it'll be back.
Yeah, she knows that. Yeah.
It's just a matter of when. Yeah.
I can't imagine living like that.
Well, you just gotta leave everyday to the fullest, don't you?
Yeah, like you don't, but that can be with anyone who says that
cancer's going to take you, who says you can't get here by boss
tomorrow? Who says you can't say goodbye
to your family in the morning and then might never see them

(38:29):
again. So you can't live like that.
I I'm not a believer that a specific disease doesn't hate
you. It does not define you at all.
Yeah. No way.
So yeah, I was sick. I found out again, had big
surgery, went through chemotherapy, did the whole lot
with the baby and John was thereagain.

(38:51):
Once again bless him and he was like signed up for the contract
of here we go. What were you doing work wise at
the time? I was IT IT and you were
hairdressing. Yeah.
You said in the interview that Isaw that no one knew.
Nope. Through that whole time you were
working. No, I'm very, very discreet.

(39:12):
My life, family of course, and. Friends no.
Clients. No.
No. Very.
I had a handful of people. I'm I'm a little bit of a keep
everything in a box type of person.
And I don't believe everybody needs to know your story to
basically, you know, just know your business because that's
people want to know your business, full stop.

(39:34):
And in the hairdressing industry, damn, do we hear some
good stories. Yes, I've told her she needs to
write a book, memoirs and a hairdresser.
Yeah, yeah. But.
Yeah, yeah. Got some good stories.
Did you hear the hairdresser episode that I did?
No. I had a hairdresser in and she
one of the stories she told was a lady came in and was going to
pay her good money to ruin someone else's hair.

(39:58):
Oh my God. Like the two friends had a.
Hair. They had a out, yeah.
And I want you to destroy her hair.
Yeah, and I'll pay you. Yeah, forget it.
Oh my God. How much was it?
And she goes not enough, No, no,I mean to end the sell on.
Yeah, she's. Been in there for 20 something
years. Yeah, over 20 years.

(40:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah at. This point, How old are you
there? You're mid 20s. 72627 yeah and
yeah with Ariana home and you know, just getting through it
and then, you know, having the surgeries go I through
chemotherapy, my mum and my husband and my family supported
us a lot. I went through that and then it
was good. All great, wonderful.

(40:39):
Never disappeared. I always had cell activity,
slight high dose, knock it over,get rid of it and then it would
flare up again like and it just never disappeared.
And that's the problem that whenyou have these diseases or these
diseases such the one I have of the cancer, it doesn't
disappear. Does.
He have a name, your one. I never ever.

(41:02):
I don't remember it to be honest.
Because it's not one thing. I try and block it out because,
you know, again, this sounds ridiculous.
I don't want to accept it. Yeah, I don't want to be
labeled. So I would just say to them, I
don't want to know what it is, how it is.
People, if it were me, I would research the living days out of

(41:25):
it. Where I'm a person that would
dwell on it and worry about it and then I would get too
involved in what it can do and Idon't want to live like that.
I want to be positive and keep going.
Yeah, I like it. Yeah.
Rather than dwell on it, I can'tdo anything about it.
I'm moving on and I'm living. Yeah.
So then everything was good. They lived again.
That's what kind of kept her alive at that point because she
just work. Family.

(41:47):
Focus. That was it.
Yeah. So you're going off and having
chemotherapy? Yeah, by yourself as well.
I believe that, yeah, big time. I don't like, again, the focus
on me. I don't like it.
I've always been that way. Always.
Well, we're doing the whole podcast on it, so I'm sorry.
Well. But again, part of this journey
is and again, why we've. Approached you and now.

(42:09):
Approached the other guys, we need to share this story.
Yeah, yeah, I totally get. That and that's something I've
learnt to do for others, it's OKto be vulnerable to.
If we can help, If we can help others, A. 100% that's what I've
found through this podcast is I have had people directly contact
me one only a couple of weeks ago who finally after over a

(42:32):
year went to see the doctor. I've been in a horrible mental
health state for all this time. Every time we'd hear one of
those episodes and go, I really,that's me.
I need to go and see someone whohas done it is now on some.
Medication. And stuff.
And I do need, I just thought last night I need to check in,
see how he's going on. And, you know, just if you can
touch somebody, yeah, you've helped somebody in a day.

(42:56):
And the thing that I'm so grateful for is life and my
family and being who I am today and happy with myself.
Like that's, it's a hard thing to explain, but to go through
heartache and depression becauseI did suffer depression two

(43:19):
years ago, but I'll get to that.I did suffer a terrible,
terrible breakdown. And it was the journey I had
gone through that you're like listening to right now.
And then, you know, because I was having me in my 30s.
I had the surgery, got through chemo, Ariana's growing, John
and I are getting through life. I've got the business and
everything's hunky Dory. That's and I.
Lived happily everywhere. Exactly.

(43:40):
And that's that's basically how we knew life though the week
before my 40th birthday, same symptoms are coming around.
And this time it was really bad and I thought this is not normal
now this is really not feeling good and then bleeding.
And I had. Yeah, and it showed a sign big
time. I was at work and I thought, oh,

(44:01):
and I had a massive bleed and I'm like, no, this is not
normal, This is not normal. And I was feeling very nauseous
and again they rushed me into hospital and they found out I
had ovarian cancer. It had taken.
Off. So I had a hysterectomy.
They took my ovary. I it had travelled into my
uterus, had gone into my bladderby this stage.

(44:23):
So I had a partial bladder removal.
All of that section was gone. I went through, came to out of
surgery, went through chemotherapy.
It was stage 3. So it was aggressive and it was
going to. This was it, this was it.
I had to come to terms now in myhead.
Did you really? Yeah.
But that by that time, I thoughtevery time you've reached your

(44:45):
little head, you're coming back stronger and stronger.
And you know, again, I'll mention I was eating greens and
healthy and salads and I would go to the gym and I would, I
would work out and I would push myself to breaking where I would
come home and collapse. But I knew that day I'd gone for
my walk and I'd worked and I'll come home and I'll do something

(45:06):
on the treadmill. Or I was like you.
I was a Commander Steve girl. I saw that in your interview
when you said you did. I did 2 boot camps in the face.
I I made note of that. I was like I.
Did I? Did the game commando fit thing
I did you know when did you knowthat I did.
It was. I was.
On air, Are you on air? Alright.
And I was like go rabbit. And you'd done that by then?

(45:28):
Yeah, you'd already done that. Yeah, I'd already been.
That was I that I was 43, I think when I was in the absolute
best shape I've been in my life and I felt amazing.
Yeah. And following that program, wow,
12 weeks of. Challenge.
Yeah, Yeah. Well, I went to his boot camp
for. Four days.
So you'd literally doing every single thing that Steve wants

(45:51):
you to do. Yeah.
And I, when I got better in between, you know, the 30 mark
and the 40 mark of having the two cancers and the surgery and
so forth, I said to John, I'm setting challenges, I'm setting
goals. We're going, we're living.
And he's like, OK, I'm like, in that one year I did Tough Mudder
in November, January, I did the overland track in Tasmania, and

(46:14):
then I went in March and did Steve's and I was just all in
six months. Yeah, following year I went and
gone back. I'm gonna go do it again.
He's like, are you crazy? Came home broke and I said Nah,
let's do it again. It's funny when you're into it.
Yeah, but I went to the gym and I 5-6 days a week.
I was eating salads and my meat and my vegetables, everything.

(46:36):
Fruit, nuts, no carbs, no sugar stayed away because sugar and
carbohydrates feed cancer. It's just a proven fact.
The higher is it, yeah, the moresugar you consume and the more
carbohydrates you feed your body.
It's basically like putting fuelon the fire and off it went.
So is that why you were doing? Our clean as clean as I could

(46:58):
and as I keeping your heart rateup, you were Yeah, all the time.
I've never, I've always been shapely and I've never been a
skinny girl, but I was never like really huge.
But I still ate healthy and I thought I was doing everything
good. Yeah, what we thought we were
doing was right. And I had researched because

(47:20):
with chemotherapy we got all these poison going into your
body and they're giving you other substances to keep your
body going. And you have like, and I
suffered really bad iron problems.
So I would pass out the drop of hat with low blood pressure.
And I was having iron infusions.I was having the works, like,
give me a cocktail, baby. And I just drank it.
And that's how it was. Yeah.

(47:41):
But I thought I've got to clean my body as clean as I could.
So I did. And I would eat and do and
exercise and do everything they said.
And it still came back more aggressive than ever.
So by that time, I just said to John, all right, we're doing it
big surgery, chemotherapy. But if it doesn't work, I'm out.

(48:02):
I'm I'm done. I can't keep living life.
During this process, obviously the chemo is damaging the rest
of the body. So she had kidney issues, she
had liver issues, all that sort of stuff as well.
So at one point they had to takeher off chemo.
Yeah, to let my kidneys recoup. We're gonna go into failure.
So like, well, you've got to come off chemo, which means.
The cancer, it was going again and this happened over a period

(48:23):
of time. So I'd had my surgery, they got
it all out. That was the first 1-10 weeks
later I ended up back in surgerybecause it had still like spread
and I didn't realize. And then I went back in and they
took that out and got rid of it back through chemo.
And that happened over like probably 5-6 years and then it

(48:43):
disappeared. It was all gone.
You know, success, great, done it and then it was good, great
living life. Got a phone call when I had my
bloods checked because you have to go in for regular check UPS
and they found a secondary and it was nowhere down that area of
my uterol area. So I had it on my spine.
They can tell us from the blood.Oh, OK, so.

(49:04):
You've got activity, the blood, blood triggers the blood shows
that there's something going on in the body.
It's not right. Or your levels are out and then
basically you you have a scan done and it verifies everything.
Yeah, it. Was in your spine.
One was on my spine and one was behind the right side of my eye
and inoperable. Just because the location too
too risky too. Too risky to go behind my right

(49:27):
eye and on my spine. And I thought, OK, we're
spreading now. We're leaving the the
traditional area of where you'vealways been and now we're moving
on. And I that's the big
conversation. I said to John, I'm not going
through chemo. I can't do all this.
I can't keep living my life likethis.
It's not worth it. Like is that quality?

(49:50):
Because I'd seen her go through everything, I accepted that far.
I heard it. Is that right?
Because as I said, she hid it well from everyone else.
But obviously living with her, being with her, I saw the worst
of it and it's not nice. It's not nice to see, to see the
person you love the most in the world go through that.
It's, I said it's your decision ultimately because it is your

(50:14):
body, it's your life. I can't.
I can't make you keep going through that.
So yeah. Yeah.
And I just said to him, I kind of love you.
I sort of said I'd rather have, you know, sort of the cliche
thing. I'd rather have 6 good months
with you than have you for five years in agony and sick and, you
know, on the toilet all the timeand.

(50:35):
Vomiting and yet some days like I couldn't get out of bed.
When they say inoperable the thespine one and the oven we threw
the chemo and that. Can it go away though?
Yeah, I had chemo. That was the.
Sort of plan of attack was to hit it with the chemo to shrink
the. Chemo, but if it doesn't work.
I'm out. Yeah, I gave them a certain
time. Doing that.
Yeah. And then I'm out.
I am out. I'm really out though.

(50:56):
And I spoke to my doctor and I said I'm out.
After this round, I'm out. And this was like another two
years in. So here I was now at like, no,
it's actually probably later than what I I first initially
thought because they start to blend.
This is the problem. But I was closer to 50.
I said, I'm not going into the second phase of my life in my

(51:17):
50s and having to still live like this.
And everybody else doesn't know what it's like to live like
this. And I do good, do a good front.
I do like I used to have the Super shortest hair ever, white
blonde. I would like really short shave
it do everything to prevent people from making me look like
I had cancer and. Is that your actual hair?

(51:39):
It's my hair now and This is whyI long.
Is it? Yeah, and I actually, I have let
it go because it's been 2-2 years of normal treatment.
So I just went, I'm growing my hair.
I'm going to look like a girl. I'm not going to have shaved
heads and short hairstyles anymore.
I want long hair and I want to look like a girl and she.

(52:01):
Always did look like a girl but.Yeah, I'm not going to say.
From the hairdressers first baby.
And so that was it. And then by the time we decided
that that was it done, we went up and we saw John's auntie and
uncle in Queensland and we were up there for four days and we

(52:22):
knew that they had had a change of lifestyle.
And I saw them and John did, andwe both stood there literally,
and went, Oh my God, they lookedfantastic, like the best they've
ever looked. Yeah, and how old are they?
Late 50s, early 60s at that time, no, they're.
They're older than that, yeah. Sorry, late 60s.

(52:42):
Late 60s. Late 60s.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And they looked amazing though.
They were glowing and they were colour in their cheeks and they
looked incredible from head to toe and they just had a glow
about them that was health and they were happier and and they
were off medication and antidepressants and all these

(53:03):
things and it was really, reallybeautiful to watch.
Anyway, we listened to what theyhad to say over the four days
and literally they had decided to go carnival our Auntie D.
Been doing for six months. My uncle had been doing it for
nine months. What was interesting about the
interview that I watched, you never really talked about what
the carnival. Died.

(53:24):
Because that whole channel isn'tabout that.
You don't need to go into that. Yeah, exactly.
So, but a lot of people are onlyjust starting to hear about
carnival and they're starting toresearch carnival.
So people, most people go, what is it?
And I say the best thing you cando is actually follow, you know,
Doctor Ken Berry or, you know, Dave Mack like we did, and Sean

(53:48):
Baker. And there's people out there
that are doctors and their carnival and the research that's
gone into it and the amount of information that is out there,
honestly, it's hard to ignore. Wait, I feel like we've jumped
forward a bit because you're you're up there in Queensland.
Yeah. And you did that for the four
days, yes. And we were watching these

(54:08):
people while we were with them. They introduced us to see them
on like. Feels very.
Cultic You've got to watch this.Yes, very, very.
Yeah, very to the point where you sort of go.
But The thing is. But The thing is, you thought
here we go. It's another fad.
Look, another way of phrasing itis it's very low carb or no

(54:31):
carb. My question this is purely for
me, I've done keto a bunch of times and I know it's good for
me and I feel incredible when I'm on keto.
It's so restrictive. Found the thing with keto is I
could go weeks perfect and I'm doing the pinpricks on the

(54:53):
finger and reading my blood sugar, glucose and and that is a
blood glucose, yeah. Ketones, measuring the ketones,
yeah. All it would take is something
that I would eat and it would kick me out of ketosis and then
it can take days to get back into it.
Nearly a week. Yeah.
And then you get the keto flu and all that, and you feel
gross. And yeah, I know that once I get
into it, I'm good. But then it's just I'm kind of

(55:15):
OK. I saw you in the interview,
John. You said that you're very all
right in this. I'm 100% yeah doing this and
that's what I would do yeah, with that as well.
Yeah, but it was but it was I was on and I'd go great.
And I'd drop a bunch of waste and I'd the inflammation and and
things, you know, instead of going up the stairs and my knees

(55:36):
creaking and being sore yeah man, couple of weeks into that
and I'm like, yeah, I feel fantastic yeah.
The brain fog like just so clear, so clear in your
thoughts. It's it's crazy.
Yeah, it. Kind of was just the next from.
Veto it is. It's just that next step up.
Yeah, in which white like how's it different?
So for those who don't know, So for keto, it's yeah, pretty much

(55:59):
restricting all sugars and there's carbs.
No carbs, no sugar? Really.
No. Carbs no.
Sugar very low, yeah, you have though.
You have like a few strawberriesand yeah, you're over.
Yeah. Which that was one of the
biggest things that I struggled with is because I love fruit.
Yeah. I was the same.
I was the same. It's a real rabbit hole once you
start looking at it. But fructose fruit is one of the

(56:21):
worst things you can have. Yeah, isn't that crazy?
Yeah. So last night, sitting down on
the couch and then on the way here, I was thinking these two
are going to wreck my Saturday night because I've been working
so hard lately that I've been looking forward to rewarding
that night. Some chips and chocolate.

(56:43):
I'm having a movie session with the kelpie in my life.
And you're gonna look at the chocolate to put in your mouth,
and you'll go John and Nicole. Damn.
Now, I'm gonna block you guys out if I don't pay any attention
to it. It doesn't exist.
But. But here's the thing.
Yeah. And then Sunday morning, I just,
I'm not a drinker, but I presumeit's like when you have a

(57:04):
hangover and you just go, why amI like this?
I'm such an idiot. And then I'll do it again.
The difference I feel because I was Paleo, I was keto.
I I'd done all of them, yeah, all of them, just to get my like
my health back in check. John was a person that he would
just eat, bless him, whatever I cooked.
He was very, you know, that's just Nick's cooked dinner.

(57:25):
I'm going to eat it. He was never really like, AI
want this, I want to do that, I want to do that.
He always knew I was like, try and keep the carbs down, try and
keep sugars down. And that's just how it was.
Yeah, we had blowouts, of course.
We were called normal. And that's where people do eat
chocolate And people, you know, have a Saturday night chocolate
fest with chips and their dog and whatever they want to do.
And that's called Saturday night.

(57:46):
And most people hit like the drink and they'll have a great
night. But when you know how the
poisons of the sugar and the alcohol and the carbohydrates
and all of these things, you're consuming processed food,
processed food. That's the big one.
Big one. See Massive.
What it sounds like we're talking about at the moment is

(58:06):
weight loss, and that is a that's a part of it.
Yeah, but it's not the key. Element that must be on there
I'll I'll point out what did youwhat are you down about 15 kilos
yeah is that right yeah which issuper impressive yeah and then
Nick says her. No, no, no, no, no.
But. Yeah, but I had, don't forget,

(58:27):
3636.2. But The thing is I had a lot of
inflammation and a lot of that toxicity in my body.
So my body had sort of swelled to a degree of holding onto all
this toxicity so. It's also kind of different.
It's not just the weight loss. No, it's the body composition
changes, Yeah. As well.
The whole body changes though. I don't go to the gym.
Yes, I'm a Carpenter by trade, but I was doing that before.

(58:49):
Yeah, yeah, I was still puffy, inflamed.
Yeah. Now it looks like I go to the
gym. Yeah.
Yeah, and. Flat tummy, Yeah, yeah, No, it's
like if I if I went to the gym, it'd be great.
I was just about to say, but again, it just is a way of life
and you don't need to. And The thing is, I went to the
gym and I was training and I wasdoing everything and guess what?

(59:13):
Yeah, nothing. Nothing.
You came back from that trip to Queensland and went let's keep
doing that. Did you feel good after the four
days? No.
Mickey do no the thing The thingis when you do keto ore
carnivore like it is a detox, especially if you do to the
carnivore right. And in the community of the
carnivores they basically say ifyou can do 30 days, great, but

(59:34):
preferably do 90 days and stick to it.
It resets your body completely. Completely though.
So because of everything Nikki'sbeen through for so long,
obviously her body's full of toxins.
Yeah. So she had what they call
oxalate dumping, all that sort of stuff.
So she didn't have a pleasant time for the first No.
Wait, how? So when was the previous round

(59:56):
of chemo in relation to the tripto Queensland for?
Your birthday and it would have been probably a year before.
And you're still carrying all ofthat in your body.
It takes a long time for your body to read toxicity.
But you came back from Queensland and decided to carry
on. Yes, because I decided I had my

(01:00:16):
treatment and I'm like, you knowwhat?
I can't keep living like that. I'm just I'm out.
And then when we went and then we heard about how a life
changing way of eating could benefit, my thought was I want
nothing to lose. I've just finished all this
rubbish I've put into my system through the medical profession.
Listen to the professionals and I have and I'm very respectful

(01:00:38):
of them and I did everything they asked of me.
But I'm still got this outcome of not getting any better.
And I knew that like I it was not going down.
It had gone up and I went, I'm out, I'm done.
So that's where when we went andwe were talking with Kurt and
Dee and I just said to John, we've got nothing to lose.
That's just changing. They had some minor health

(01:00:58):
issues which, yeah, had resolved.
Yeah, resolved. My uncle had gout colitis.
And he suffered terrible depression.
And depression as well. Really.
Both of them. Depression.
Yeah. Yeah.
And he has. Neuralgia.
Which hasn't gone but is more wearable yeah.
And then you, we watched a couple of the videos, they said
you've got to watch these. So we watched them from the

(01:01:19):
Youtubers and. And a big one for me was I
thought, I'm going to do the four days with them, be
respectful of it, I want to giveit a go, come back.
And I was still oxalating and feeling rubbish.
I had the flu, I was feeling achy.
I was in the bathroom 20 times aday.
Seriously. It was horrible.
Yeah, but I went well, it must be a lot in my system to get rid
of. And John didn't suffer like

(01:01:40):
that. He didn't go through all of
that. Yeah.
And so I knew he was telling us something.
He was telling us, OK, he didn'teat like he ate like I ate.
But he didn't have everything else go into his system.
I did. So that's why I was feeling
these repercussions a lot longer.
And, and I could see what was happening.
Within three months, I started to really feel good.

(01:02:03):
And in that time period I had suffered a terrible breakdown as
well. That's when my life had changed
completely in in the August and I just, I had a massive
breakdown. I couldn't do it anymore.
This is it. And that's when I stopped
treatment. So it was August and then we've
gone. No, we're fine.
But before the Queensland trip, yeah, yeah, I had retired out of

(01:02:26):
hairdressing in the August and Ihad suffered a terrible
breakdown because I knew I wasn't getting any better as
well. I had some business issues that
went South and I basically had had A and I was like, I'm out,
I'm out of breaking. Point, wasn't it?
I couldn't do everything and anything anymore.
That's the truth. I felt like I.
Had just place. Very.

(01:02:48):
And I deflated. I went to a place that you
shouldn't go to. Yeah.
And I was on depressants and I was seeing like, my psychologist
and I was, you know, needing help desperately.
I was, I think. I listened to one of your other
podcasts. It was the same sort of thing.
I think the guy was the one thatwas depressed, but he said it
was his wife that saved him. Yep.
She came home. Yeah, it's the opposite.

(01:03:09):
I came home, yeah. Yeah.
Different time it was. Daily Mac the firefighter.
Yeah, I. Listened to it the other day.
John came home. Very similar story.
I came home and. And he stopped me.
Oh, really? Yeah, I just couldn't.
I couldn't see the light anymoreand I felt really comfortable
where I was in this dark place. It's the same thing.

(01:03:31):
Like you'll be better off without me.
Yeah, it'll be easier for you ifI'm not here.
It's a. Really common one.
Yeah. Yeah, I know.
I felt comfortable with the decision, which was quite scary
to me. Well, that I mean, Julie talked
about that in her book, the second-half of it.
Good. I was wondering if you'd get
that right in the middle of sucha serious topic, that thing of

(01:03:59):
yeah, when she walked away from the stadium and was yeah.
And something literally snapped.She just went.
Everyone else will be better offwithout me.
Yeah, and that's exactly right. That's where I went.
And if you haven't been there, it's very hard thing to
understand. You can't understand, Yeah.
But I was comfortable with it and I had thought, I've been

(01:04:23):
through cancer, I've had heartache with my children, I've
loved, I've given I am a good person.
I cannot do everything and anything anymore because the
only person that was suffering was me.
I was never happy. I was always lost.
I always felt like I was striving to get somewhere and I
just couldn't get anywhere. Or I got a glimpse of hope and

(01:04:45):
it was taken away from me straight away.
So it was this roller coaster and I just said I'm sick of
riding the roller coaster. And they were my words.
I'm out. And you sort of said, I'm going
to go, I'm going to go, but I want to go.
Not the way it's going to take me sort of thing as well.
So there was that kind of element to it.
Wow. But it's a bad place to be and

(01:05:06):
you know that's you go there, but you feel very comfortable
with that. August.
It wasn't until April that you went to.
Following April, yeah. Yeah.
What was the time like through there?
Did you? Start it was bad it.
Was bad. Through all that time, yeah, I
stayed at home a lot. I did not, I didn't leave the
house. I I basically would have my

(01:05:27):
sessions with my like my psychiatrist.
I was constantly I did a lot of cooking and not the carnival
way. Baking.
Of yeah. And I was always.
My daughter was always with me, or John was always with me.
I was never alone. I was never allowed to be left
alone. That was by design, yeah.
So I just and then I started to basically say, you know what,

(01:05:52):
I've got to try and breathe. So I'd go outside to the garden
for a little while. That was my place to go and I'd
go back in the house and I never.
Vented at that. Point I did paint the whole
house. That was my therapy and I felt
very secure at home. I loved my home.
I knew it was one place that nothing could hurt me.
I was being hit left, right and centre on the outside world, so

(01:06:12):
I stayed home. I just wanted to be home.
Isn't it amazing how I says all the time with people?
You look at anybody, that guy sitting in his car right there,
you don't know what's going on in his life and you don't know
what has happened. No, you turning up here today
and we've had some laughs and everything and just looking at
you guys, you have no idea the whole story of you guys and

(01:06:33):
where you were at. Yeah, at that point, Yeah.
And where you were at at that point as well.
For John I. Can't imagine like I'm the
broken one with the, you know, with the mental health and, and
that I can't imagine what it would be like to be the partner.
Yeah, I, I'm with you. How would it be for serve?

(01:06:54):
How is it for John? And I have you asked her that at
any point? We don't talk much.
No, not really. She has said that, you know,
it's hard. It's so hard to watch and to not

(01:07:14):
be able to fix it. Yeah, that would be my.
More so from a man's point of view.
That would be my thing. That would be my thing with her.
If it were the other way around,I would want to fix it where she
hasn't tried to fix me, yeah. No, but women don't want to fix.
We're there to let you know we love and support you.
Yeah, and we have your back. Go back to that job thing, it is

(01:07:35):
way back at the start there and.That's exactly right.
We we see our. I've tried not to fix because
obviously it's not something I can't fix because I've I have
tried to do the other thing and that's just be there and
support. And it's very hard for John
because I am a little bit more of a I'm quite independent in
our marriage still. So I did my treatment by myself.
I drove myself to my own scans. I would not let him come near

(01:08:00):
me. And the reason I did that, which
I will stand by this day, that Idid the right thing 100%, no
matter what anybody else would think, is I kept my loved ones
and my families away from the clinic and away from the cancer.
You know, Society of walking into the hospital and seeing
everybody and we're all looking the same and we're all sick and

(01:08:21):
we're all there for other reasons.
But the people that come in to support them, they breakdown,
they can't cope with it, they'renot going through it.
So it's a person that then is going through the cancer that
then has to support their family.
Heard that happens a lot, yeah. And I went in by myself and I
said to him, I love you more than you'll ever know.

(01:08:41):
And I said this to Ariana and I said, but I'm doing this journey
by myself still. And they were like, but we're
here. And I said, great, I'll see you
when I get home because I need you more there and I need you at
home. And I need you to look at me as
mum and I need you to look at meas your wife, Nikki, your best
friend of life. That's what we've always said.
And that was how I left it. And it was great because if I

(01:09:03):
could come home, I didn't feel like I had that.
I had the cancer and I, I was going through this hardship and
going to work like I would disappear.
I'd be doing people's hair and Iwouldn't feel good.
And I would just, you know, say to my stuff, I'll be back in a
minute. And I was gone for 20 minutes,
half an hour. And I was in the bathroom and I
would pull myself together and I'd like, you know, off we go

(01:09:25):
again and just keep going. And the busier you kept your
mind, the healthier I was. It didn't do me any good in the
end when I did have my breakdownbecause I then thought I am
empty of positivity, I'm empty of strength.
So I crashed and I went in just yeah, I went way, way down.

(01:09:46):
We. Sort of briefly touched on being
a hairdresser. It's very draining that way as
well, so imagine. Yeah, the stories that you're
hearing into people, yeah, Yeah.So, OK, well.
Now we've got a. Good picture of where you are
at. Then you went to Queensland and
then you kept going on it. Yeah, 4 What's that over a year

(01:10:08):
there was April 4th. April 4th 2025.
So it was a year exactly from the time we're in Queensland,
seeing our family on the four day journey of learning about
carnival, coming home and kept cleaning our bodies and sticking
to the carnival way and just being adamant.
And then I was having my blood tests done and my doctor was

(01:10:29):
astounded by the results. He couldn't believe it.
Only three or four months after April.
Basically I had my bloods done. He was like you've got to come
in this and you have a scan due.And I was like OK.
And he was like there is a huge change.
I've never seen it move like this, ever.
It's 40%, wasn't it? Yeah, 40% reduction.
Reduction in both tumors. The the tumor in the eye and the

(01:10:52):
tumors. And on my spine.
And I was feeling better about it, like I was feeling not as
tired. So were you going in and
getting? Are you going to get a scan or?
Yeah, it's due for my scan. Oh, OK, so you.
Have a blood test done. Always always bloods different.
To keep a track of my iron and everything else that's going on
in my body and my cholesterols and all of these things.

(01:11:13):
And then I have my scan done andhe was like, that was a huge
change. And I was like, Oh well, this is
hope, this is great, but. You hadn't told him about no.
What, you hadn't told him I wasn't going to.
This was a year of. No, this was like not even 445
months after the April Oh. Right.
So September of last year. Right, Yeah.

(01:11:34):
Was when you started getting thethe those kind of results the
good? Results.
Yeah. So I was like, OK.
And then I said to him, well, you're not going to be happy
with what I've done. And he's like, OK, well, what
are you doing? Because whatever you're doing,
it's working. And I said to him, John and I
and the family have gone carnival, and he's like, what?
You're doing what? And I said, we're doing
carnival. And he said, oh, you know, it's

(01:11:56):
a lot of red meat. And I said, there's no medical
evidence out there that meat actually causes cancer.
And he looked at me like, and I was telling my doctor this, and
I said to him, you've seen the results.
He said, yeah. I said, would you have known I
was doing carnival? He said, no.
I said, do you think it was the medication?
I'm not on medication. I'm done.
So what's this telling you? It's my lifestyle.

(01:12:18):
Things are changing. I'm cleaning my body out.
He was like, OK, OK, we'll just see how it goes.
He was a bit of a skeptic. Of course, it went on again.
And then basically it was comingup to the April of the year.
And I said to him, like, how arewe going?
And he was like, OK, let's run your bloods again.
Yeah, how are you feeling? I said, I'm feeling great.
He goes, you've lost so much weight.

(01:12:40):
You look alive. You're not yellow.
You're not pale. Have you passed out in the last
six months? I said not once.
So no iron infusions. No iron infusions at all.
I'll just reference the beeping in case my audio processing
doesn't take it out. We're aware it's beeping.
Thank you. The pod van's about to lose
power and we're trying to wrap. I knew it was.

(01:13:06):
Coming. See, this is the thing, right?
This happened on episode 1. I remember I'm nearly an episode
200, OK, and here we are. I love that still.
Alright, we're back. I'm not going to pretend that
didn't happen. There's no way to episode 1 of
this podcast. I ran out of power and Julie

(01:13:28):
laughed at me. Now I've come such a long way.
Exact same thing just happened in the middle of talking about
it and the lights all went out and everything.
OK, well we up to April 4th. Yeah, the 4th of April 2025, it
was due to have like just another blood test done.
And he wanted to run to see if there was really a significant

(01:13:51):
change from the September of thefollowing year, if it's still
happening, if it was still coming down.
So we did all the testing, like all the testing of what we
needed to do. And then the next thing I heard
him say you need to come in now.I want to see you now.
And I'm like, OK, is it bad? He goes.
I'm not saying anything, I just want to see you and it's got.

(01:14:13):
To be face to face, did he? Really.
Yeah, didn't, no, so. You were you thinking it was
bad? No, I just thought go with your
gut, go with how you know your body, go with knowing that you
feel good. It can't be negative.
It's got to be good. It's got to be good.
So I went in and I was smiling and he was smiling and he came

(01:14:34):
up and he actually hugged me andhe was very emotional and he was
starting to cry. And he said it's gone, it's
gone. It's there's no sign, There's
nothing. There's no active.
Cells. Gone, he said to me.
I can see scar tissue there, like there was something there,
he said. There's no cell activity.

(01:14:54):
It's gone. And of course, like I welled up
in tears of not believing what he said to me and I, I was
standing up and then I sat down and I said to him, just repeat
yourself one more time because I've got to listen to exactly
what you said. And he said there is no cell

(01:15:15):
activity in your body at all. It's gone now.
I've never heard those words ever.
So I was very happy. Emotional, of course, but happy
teeth, happiness. And he was like, I can't believe
this. I can't believe this.
He said, if I had not have knownyou from the time you were like

(01:15:37):
a teenager and we've gone through our journey together,
Nicole, and you've done all of this and you've done everything
I've asked of you. And then you've done what you've
needed to do and not told us andbasically didn't listen to the
medical profession at all. I wouldn't have known what you
were doing. And he said congratulations,
you're in the clear. And.

(01:15:58):
This has come from getting rid of all carbs, all all sugars so.
Essentially our what we eat is majority red meat.
So yeah, beef or lamb? Mint pork.
Pork. Beer.
Mint. Yeah.
Chicken. Fish.
Cheese, prawns, cheese if you want eggs.
Cheese. Yeah.
Yoga, Yoga grouk, yogurt, Yeah, yeah.

(01:16:20):
Any cheese you would like. Hard cheese Yeah is good.
Essentially no plants, no no fruit.
Like no veg, no fruit, no processed.
Vegetables. None.
You said in that interview something around 'cause I know
what you're talking about when you said this best when I was on
keto, yes, and I'd be feeling fantastic and then eat something
and the. Inflammation come back?

(01:16:40):
Yeah, the everything, that creaky knees, all that sort of
stuff you said in there. I had a bit of lettuce or
something and yeah, yeah, vegetable, vegetables.
Yeah, being on the journey, we were eating the meat and doing
everything we want to. And there was a point I said
said to John, I want just I wantto try if if I could have some a
salad. And I made a small bowl like

(01:17:01):
lettuce and cucumber and like a few cherry tomatoes.
And it tasted really mentally and it didn't taste right to me.
And I thought, no, I don't like it.
And I ate maybe half. I thought no, because maybe I
thought it's just my taste buds not being used to it.
And the next day I woke up and Iwas aching in my joints, in my
shoulders and my knees were aching.

(01:17:24):
And I actually felt sick, like Ifelt like I was going to get the
flu. And I said to John, I feel
horrible. And he goes, It's the green,
sort of. That's crazy.
Yeah, and we've tested it on other things, like we had some
frozen yogurt when we were in Bali.
Yeah, yeah, not good. Upset Belly.
Because you have cleansed and detoxed your body.

(01:17:45):
Yeah. Gotten rid of the sugar.
Yeah. When you do have something, your
body's not at that toxicity. Yeah, yeah.
So as. Soon as you have a little bit,
your body just goes, well, what are you doing?
What like this is bad? Whereas we've trained our bodies
to sort of accept it up until this point.
You know what I mean? So you just, you just go, oh,
that's normal. That's right.
And I hurt here or whatever, butthat's kind of normal.

(01:18:06):
I'm getting old. Yeah, that.
Sort of thing. And you know.
It's not normal. It's not normal.
It's actually not. And you know, processed food is
deadly. It is absolutely so dangerous.
If they could honestly write exactly what was on the back of
that packet and not put it in number form, no one would touch
it. No one would put it in their
mouth. And you know, sugar is 100 times

(01:18:27):
more addictive than cocaine, yetwe let everybody in our
households and our family eat itso.
And it starts from the beginning.
Like even your baby formula has sugar in it.
Yeah. So right from that get go.
Should really be getting the kids on some steak.
Yeah, bit of Wagyu. Chewing.
Chewing on the lamb. Chops.
Lamb chops. Yeah.

(01:18:48):
Chicken legs. And that's, that's kind of, you
know, as we've gotten into it and we've lived this way now for
16 months. Yeah.
People saying what? What do I feed my my baby?
Yeah, it is. Literally let him chew it on a
bone. Absolutely, yeah.
Yeah, don't blend up the all theveggies and all that.
Sort of stuff. No, don't.
You bitch. Bit of meat that you want?
Yeah, it's. Not you guys back in the day to

(01:19:10):
tell my mum I didn't have to eatmy veggies.
I know, but that's. That bad for me, and that's the
thing. As a young child, your taste
buds are telling you. Yes.
It's a bad thing. How many times you see your
child spit out the broccoli and they go like, yuck, that tastes
yucky. And what's the first thing
they'll do? They'll go and pick up the meat

(01:19:30):
or they'll pick up the chicken leg.
They'll null on the bone. That's what they want.
But we gave them the broccoli, the pureed veggies.
Yeah. And you know what?
Why are the veggies bad? Well, I as soon as I said that
and I saw your face as I thought, OK, I.
It's another it's another chapter that you need to look
into. That's what I was gonna say.

(01:19:51):
If you're interested in this, you go do urine.
Research. Absolutely and.
Look into it. I mean you're not here to preach
to anyone or anything. It's really just telling your
story. We aren't.
So that others could look into it absolutely if they want to.
That's exactly right. One of the simplest way one of
the doctors puts it is animals have claws and teeth to defend
themselves. Plants don't.
They have toxins. Every plant has toxins in it

(01:20:14):
because it wants to stop things eating it.
Doctor Shaffy, he has his. He's.
Got a famous one if you want to Google it.
Plants are trying to kill you. Yeah, it's just very
interesting. And again, as we've said, we
don't, we don't preach. We practice, but we don't
preach. And you know, we'll go into work

(01:20:35):
and not like a lot of the guys will say to us, what are you
eating today? And we go loin beef chicken with
some cheese. And they're like, oh, what are
they? And I go, oh, I make bacon
fingers now, and they go bacon fingers.
I go, yeah, bacon. You wrap the cheese, bacon.
Kind. Yeah, and you put bacon.
That's the thing, Bacon's good. Yeah, and you put Parmesan
cheese on it and you make it crunchy.

(01:20:55):
And barter. Yeah, tallow.
Really. I've been through a lot of this
with doing the keto. Yeah, yeah, keto's a very good
way to do it as well. It's very low carb.
Obviously you got a bit of carbsfrom your veg and stuff, so
that's fine. But as I said, in the community,
a lot of people just say if you can just do that clean carnival
for the 30 or 90 days, yes. And then if you wanna bring
stuff back in, bring it back. See what it does to your body.

(01:21:16):
Like, do you get that paying back?
Like, you get your avocados, they're a good fat.
Eat your avocados. Don't be scared of them.
Yeah, absolutely. Seed oils and all.
That's a whole. Yeah, don't.
Yeah. Seed oils we'll come back to
that one anyway, I think a big there's a lot to it and my only
hesitation in talking to you guys was that no, that was
before I watched the video over here story is that I thought it

(01:21:39):
could be a preachy thing of you've gotta do this.
It's so amazing. Oh my God, it's beeping again
let's wrap it up then guys. Thank you so much for.
Jumping. Really appreciate the
opportunity. I've enjoyed the chat.
Yeah, it's been great. Thank you.
All we can say is we've done it.I've actually reversed type 2
diabetes as well. Nicki's cancer free.

(01:21:59):
Give it a go. Yeah.
You have nothing to lose. What have you got to lose?
I'm. Gonna start feeding the pod van
steak podcast with rabbit.

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