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Speaker 1: Hey there, welcome to healthy Ish, your daily podcast for

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Speaker 1: Somebody and soul. I am Felicity Harley from goggle Box

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Speaker 1: to the Bachelorette. You're probably familiar with the Bubbly TV

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Speaker 1: star Angie Kent Well. For the past couple of years,

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Speaker 1: her father has been fighting a rare blood cancer. She

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Speaker 1: joins us in the studio today, and she opens up

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Speaker 1: about how she's supporting her family while also finding strength

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Speaker 1: within herself. Make sure you're listening to Extra Healthy Ish,

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Speaker 1: where she shares more about her own health marathon, as

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Speaker 1: she calls it. You can catch that where we get

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Speaker 1: your podcasts Angie, welcome to healthy Ish.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me in the studio. No,

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Speaker 2: I'm loving it, and I always.

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Speaker 1: Can't believe we haven't got you on this podcast before considering,

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Speaker 1: you know, the health marathon that you've been through.

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Speaker 2: I love the marathon, but spot on.

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Speaker 1: We'll talk about that in Extra Healthish because I want

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Speaker 1: to talk about your dad. How is he?

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Speaker 2: You know what? Physically he has bounced back like a machine,

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Speaker 2: which I'm not that shocked by. Mentally, it's one of

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Speaker 2: those things again, It's it's a marathon, not a sprint. Yeah, yeah, tell.

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Speaker 1: Us what happened? What has Mark? His name is Mark? Yes,

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Speaker 1: what has he gone through?

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Speaker 2: So my dad Mark was diagnosed with a rare form

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Speaker 2: of blood cancer. I'm not even going to try to

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Speaker 2: say it because I will butcher it. Perhaps we could

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Speaker 2: pop it in the show notes.

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Speaker 1: I will, and I can perhaps try and do it.

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Speaker 1: Can you just throw perhaps?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, I've got it written down because I

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Speaker 2: alway's say it wrong.

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Speaker 1: That's okay, we'll put it in.

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Speaker 2: We'll put it in a show notes. But it was

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Speaker 2: a rare form of blood cancer, but in general it

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Speaker 2: is blood cancer. Back in twenty twenty, and it was

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Speaker 2: one of those waiting periods between twenty twenty and twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty three. I get mixed up. Between twenty twenty to

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty four. It was like a blur to me.

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Speaker 2: So twenty twenty three is when he started his chemo

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Speaker 2: and then that quick he went in for a bone

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Speaker 2: marriage transplant. So what all happened quite quickly even though

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Speaker 2: we got the diagnosis three years ago.

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Speaker 1: How has it changed your relationship with your dad?

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Speaker 2: It's one of those things that when you hear something

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Speaker 2: like this, we do this as humans. It's like when

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Speaker 2: you hear something like this, you very much think everything's

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Speaker 2: going to be different or we're going to make sure

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Speaker 2: that we do ABCD. But then you remember that you

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Speaker 2: are just a human at the end of the day,

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Speaker 2: and in theory, it's so nice to think you're going

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Speaker 2: to make all these changes, but you're just going to

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Speaker 2: do what you can from both your level of consciousness.

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Speaker 2: I thought I could go in, you know, being this

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Speaker 2: sort of person, and I'm sure he did too, but

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Speaker 2: it all, you know, it's the same, but I think

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Speaker 2: I know that I feel more like, Wow, you've got

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Speaker 2: to be so careful with your life and look after yourself,

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Speaker 2: whereas he's a bit of a battler.

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Speaker 1: Did you have a good relationship with him before?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I have, But with my dad and I, it's

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Speaker 2: more like he's been more like my friend. He's not

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Speaker 2: been my dad. So for me, it's like I've kind

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Speaker 2: of always gone into this role of which I've learned

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Speaker 2: now that who are my to tell people how to

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Speaker 2: live their life? But I've been I'm just that person.

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Speaker 2: I've been more of a friend and a yeah to

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Speaker 2: them than their daughter. I don't know why, it just

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Speaker 2: kind of happened.

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Speaker 1: So how did you manage how did you, you know,

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Speaker 1: support him? I mean as a friend, as a daughter, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: through this because I think you know a lot of

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Speaker 1: parents get ill and yes, unexpectedly, and you're like, but

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Speaker 1: hang on, you're my parent, you can't get sick. How

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Speaker 1: did you well, firstly support him?

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Speaker 2: Well, the first thing I did. I knew that Mum

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Speaker 2: and Dad would have to move to Brisbane full time,

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Speaker 2: which would have been such a big thing for them

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Speaker 2: because they have been in the same spot for thirty

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Speaker 2: something years living their life of what they know. They're

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Speaker 2: not like me, where I can live anywhere and pick

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Speaker 2: up and start and adjust. So I thought, if I

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Speaker 2: go there, perhaps I could kind of be like, look,

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Speaker 2: this is our life and what it looks like now.

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Speaker 2: So I picked up my life October twenty twenty three

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Speaker 2: and moved to Brisbane with them. We lived right next

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Speaker 2: door to the hospital because Dad had to go in

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Speaker 2: at first every day and then move in. I think

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Speaker 2: he was in there for about six weeks full time

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Speaker 2: in the hospital, but all up we had to live

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Speaker 2: in Brisbane for three months, so I think just being

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Speaker 2: there physically mostly to help my mom because my dad

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Speaker 2: had such an amazing support system in the hospital and

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Speaker 2: with the Ilachemi Foundation. I think I went there for

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Speaker 2: my mum because she didn't know anyone there. We have

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Speaker 2: my dad's mom there, my nanny, but other than that,

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Speaker 2: she was like, she's not very like she gets very scared.

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Speaker 2: So I was like, what, I'll go with you.

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Speaker 1: So how did you calm her worries? But also, you know,

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Speaker 1: you have to It's interesting when a parent gets sick

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Speaker 1: because you have to remain strong, but you also have

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Speaker 1: to you have to buffer them, but help, but buffer

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Speaker 1: yourself at the same time. And recently told Stella that

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Speaker 1: you're in air quotes emotional. Yes, you navigate all this.

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Speaker 2: I think that I was lucky because I had my

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Speaker 2: best friend there so I could go and escape sometimes

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Speaker 2: and go see him and then I would, you know,

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Speaker 2: go to the gym or make sure I had time

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Speaker 2: to go for a walk or I think I was,

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Speaker 2: you know, still having my life where I had to

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Speaker 2: fly to Sydney for work or go home to visit

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Speaker 2: my brother on the Sunshine Coast, whereas I wasn't sure

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Speaker 2: because my mom's always only lived for my dad and

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Speaker 2: the kids. If my mum would know how to take

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Speaker 2: care of herself during that time. She really didn't. So

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Speaker 2: I think it was good that I was there because

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Speaker 2: I think she would have just lived for my dad

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Speaker 2: and then lived for my family back home. And yeah,

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Speaker 2: I might have provided entertainment with her. Well. We actually

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Speaker 2: we all got in when Dad got out of hospital.

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Speaker 2: We all got into watching movies every night, which my

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Speaker 2: dad normally hates shows unless I'm on them. On movies.

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Speaker 2: My dad was always like whatever, but then we did

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Speaker 2: every night we sat down and his friend put them

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Speaker 2: because they're old school on this, like you know, us

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Speaker 2: b God love, even though there's that such thing as Netflix.

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Speaker 2: But he wanted the USB and we'd go through and

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Speaker 2: he'd pick and he'd get on his little like iPad

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Speaker 2: and Google like things like that. I feel was we

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Speaker 2: never did that anymore Like when I was a kid,

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Speaker 2: we did, but we'reever all in that space to do that.

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Speaker 2: So I think, you know, having that entertainment side, and

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Speaker 2: then my mom for me just to be there to chat,

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Speaker 2: go for our walks, take her out for lunch, be

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Speaker 2: her soundboard, mostly because again I'm like her best friend too.

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Speaker 2: So I think the of those little rituals, right, I

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Speaker 2: think so, Yeah, I think that definitely helped. Otherwise you

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Speaker 2: are stuck just going to the hospital every day, coming home, staying.

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Speaker 2: Even though the apartment's such a help and so beautiful,

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Speaker 2: it's just the same thing every day and for three months.

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Speaker 2: It's a long time.

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Speaker 1: And often you think those little things like watching a

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Speaker 1: movie are so meanlyness, but they're actually extraaining. They're great

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Speaker 1: saying that like, find the extraordinary in the ordinary.

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Speaker 2: It's so true, especially when we weren't to know if

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Speaker 2: dad was to bounce back right. So when we got

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Speaker 2: to sit there with him after something as extreme as

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Speaker 2: a bone marrow transplant, you never know one day from

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Speaker 2: the next. To then sit down and watch movies with

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Speaker 2: him was like such a blessing.

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Speaker 1: Now, while your dad's blood cancer was rare, the stats

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Speaker 1: around at are pretty alarming. Let me tell you some.

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Speaker 1: I mean you'd probably know this, but listeners, an estimated

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Speaker 1: one intowelve Australians will be diagnosed in their lifetime. I

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Speaker 1: couldn't believe this.

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Speaker 2: Nuts.

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Speaker 1: It's equivalent to eight percent of the Australian population. Of

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Speaker 1: those diagnosed, one in three will not survive five years.

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Speaker 1: What do you want other people to know about blood cancer?

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Speaker 2: Oh gosh, well, obviously it can happen to anyone. I'd

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Speaker 2: fear that, you know, you don't know what age you

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Speaker 2: could get it. We were in hospital and there was

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Speaker 2: someone as young as twenty and seeing his mother change

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Speaker 2: her whole life to come from somewhere like Rockhampton. You know,

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Speaker 2: they had to travel and completely start up a new life,

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Speaker 2: and just to know that. I think it's really easy,

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Speaker 2: obviously to be so frightened and consumed by something like this.

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Speaker 2: But I really notice with my dad that he really

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Speaker 2: surrendered to the experience. And he's not like a spiritual

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Speaker 2: emotional person like me. But I don't know if it's

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Speaker 2: just the old school in him, but he really kind

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Speaker 2: of just trusted that he was in the right hands. Nowadays,

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Speaker 2: I think it's so easy to doctor google and want

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Speaker 2: everything right and be like, well, what if I'm not

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Speaker 2: doing the natural way and then there's the Western way.

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Speaker 2: He really leant into it. And I'm not saying because

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Speaker 2: of that he survived and had this outcome, but that's

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Speaker 2: just my experience, and that's probably what I could share

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Speaker 2: is obviously be there for one another, but trust the

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Speaker 2: professionals because they're so amazing. And his team was just

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Speaker 2: beautiful and they still are every day he or know

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Speaker 2: every other day now he still gets check ups and

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Speaker 2: speaks to a team and like that's a year on,

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Speaker 2: Like they're just incredible.

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Speaker 1: Well are you for coming and sharing a story today,

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Speaker 1: Thank you for having me now, my friends. September is

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Speaker 1: Blood Cancer Month and the Lakemia Foundation. He encourages all

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Speaker 1: Australians affected by blood cancer or anyone who has questions

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Speaker 1: about it to head to blood cancer dot org dot au.

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Speaker 1: If you enjoyed listening to Angie her story, her dad's story,

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Speaker 1: tell us rate and review this podcast episode and subscribe

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Speaker 1: of course to this podcast. Anything else, head to Body

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Speaker 1: and Soul dot com dot you for us on socials

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Speaker 1: rob Our print edition which is out in your local

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Speaker 1: Sunday paper. And Make Sure You Stay Healthy is