Janelle spent her entire nursing career avoiding the cancer ward. But her blood cancer diagnosis changed that, where she became all too familiar with the challenges of accessing treatment and care while living in a regional area.
After a 12-hour drive to her nearest major hospital in Townsville in July 2024, Janelle was ready for her long-awaited hernia surgery.
However, when she arrived, she learnt the operation had been postponed.
Having already made the drive – and with medical care in her hometown of Mount Isa being much harder to access – Janelle sought to make good use of her time and scheduled an appointment with a local GP for a general check-up.
That doctor’s visit ultimately saved her life.
Janelle’s blood test results showed high levels of inflammation. She assumed this was due to her recent COVID infection. However, the doctor ordered a chest X-ray and CT scan just to be sure. The results were sent to her GP back in Mount Isa.
Janelle was at home when her GP called a few days later. The tests showed she had lymphoma, a type of blood cancer.
Janelle and her husband Mark sat at the kitchen table and tried to process the devastating diagnosis.
“We just sat there and cried,” Janelle recalls.
Searching for a place to stay
10 days later, Janelle had a telehealth appointment with a haematologist. She was advised to return to Townsville Hospital immediately for urgent tests and treatment.
Further tests including a PET scan and biopsies of her lymph nodes confirmed she had diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
Janelle’s first round of chemotherapy began straight away.
Mark wanted to be close by, but local accommodation was booked out.
After learning about their situation, a social worker at Townsville Hospital connected the couple to a Leukaemia Foundation Healthcare Professional. They arranged a unit at no cost in the Queensland Freemasons Blood Cancer Centre.
The Blood Cancer Centre includes self-contained units and a team of supportive staff to ensure people receive personalised care, support and information throughout their stay.
Learn more about the Leukaemia Foundation’s accommodation services.
“The Leukaemia Foundation staff did a thousand things for us. They are just beautiful people. We would not have made it through without them,” Janelle recalls.
“Having my family and friends around me was invaluable throughout my treatment.”
Janelle underwent four rounds of chemotherapy with frequent and often severe side effects.
Chemo was brutal,” she says. “On the second day, my side effects involved nausea and some vomiting. Towards the end of the fourth round of chemo it was also constipation and diarrhoea, plus huge fatigue.
This was followed by CAR T-cell therapy – a treatment that changes a patient’s immune cells so they can find and destroy cancer cells more effectively Janelle’s T-cells were collected and sent to a laboratory in Los Angeles where scientists added new proteins called chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) to her cells.
“My son tracked my cells on Flightradar24 and sent me screenshots when they were at 30,000 feet. I also asked my cousin, who lives in Los Angeles, to do a few bike rides past where my cells were and blow them kisses and tell them to work hard.
I figured we talk to our kids, plants and animals, why not talk to our cells?
“I had my T-cells infused back into my body on Christmas Eve 2024. It was scary but short – the infusion was only about 10 minutes.
“My whole family came to the hospital and were sitting next to my bed. There were also two nurses, two haematologists and their team. I thought, ‘Oh great, now I will die in front of all my family and smart people’.
“I was watched very closely in the ward over the next 10 days. I didn’t have many side effects and got a little stronger each day.”
Janelle’s return home and learning to appreciate the simple moments
After six months of intensive treatment, Janelle was able to return home to Mount Isa and is now in remission. She continues to have monthly blood tests and telehealth appointments with her haematologist to monitor her health.
“I don’t worry about as much rubbish in life, and I get in there and have a go,” Janelle says. “There’s nothing I could go through that could be as painful or hard as last year.” Now back at work part-time, Janelle is gradually rebuilding her life – with a renewed perspective, deeper resilience, and a profound gratitude for her support network and each ordinary day that once felt out of reach.
