Julia's new chapter

A stroke of good luck had Julia Davidson’s life path veer suddenly in a new direction, one that she walked alone, doing things her way.

It was 2017, and Julia’s results from her standard two-yearly mammogram check gave her the all-clear. Then, a month later, a new high-tech machine arrived at Nelson Hospital. Not having enough women that matched the trial criteria, they extended a rescreening offer to Blenheim women, including Julia. The machine picked up something suspect in her right breast. However, it was a week before Christmas, and they said they wouldn’t do anything until February because they couldn’t get enough tissue to do a biopsy. Julia wasn’t keen on this plan.

“I said, 'I'm going to put my bed in hospital. I will stay the night, and I will not leave this hospital until you get enough to send off.' My insistence won them over. They phoned overseas and got permission to carry on. They sent the tissue off, and they thought there was a large tumour hidden under calcification, and it was also in my lymph nodes.” Unfortunately, they were right.

Naturally, Julia was ‘gutted and distraught’ at the diagnosis and believes the cancer had manifested after a stressful marriage breakup five months earlier. She had surgery in Wellington for a full mastectomy and reconstruction of her right breast, plus removal of three lymph nodes from her armpit. Breast reconstruction is usually done at a later date, but Julia pushed to have it at the same time. Post-surgery, she had four drains in her chest and was placed in a reconstruction ward.

“I had to walk down every day to the TV room and sit with all these blokes, which was not a great place to be when you've had breast cancer and you're the only woman in a room surrounded by guys there because they're having reconstruction due to sporting injuries or work-related injuries. I made it my mission to get out of there as fast as possible.”

She had a sister in Wellington she could stay with. But the hospital wouldn’t let her leave until she was well enough to have at least two of the four drains removed. Julia meditated on this. Literally. Every day, meditating and visualising the fluids draining away, her surgical incisions healed quicker than the hospital expected, and as soon as two of the drains were no longer needed, she left to recover further with her family before returning to Blenheim and eight weeks of chemo. And a return to work.

Julia had been a medical herbalist for 35 years and decided she wasn’t going to share her cancer journey with her clients at this time. When her hair fell out thanks to chemo, she had her head shaved and opted for a wig. One of her clients noticed something different.

“She said, ‘Oh my God, you look amazing. Your holiday to Rarotonga must have done you the world of good.’ My Rarotonga holiday was my surgery in Wellington. And then she said, ‘I love your new hairstyle, where did you get that?’ Oh, a friend of my sister in Wellington, so she can't do it for you. So she goes home, and next minute, there's a phone call, ‘I just want to thank you so much. I went home and told my husband that my therapist looks a million dollars and she's tanned from a trip to Rarotonga, and he's taking me on holiday.’”

When Julia returned to Wellington to undergo radiotherapy, she made sure to eat well and took plenty of ginger to counter any nausea. “I did everything that I could to get myself healthy. I was doing all my meditation. I went to yoga classes that the Cancer Society provides in Wellington. I went for walks in nature with my family in Wellington. …

It's so important to have good support when you're going through cancer. And I just tried to look at it as a positive because I knew it was in my lymph nodes. Two of my friends died of breast cancer because they chose not to do medicine, and I believe that they would be alive today if they had. It is medicine that saved my life and everything else I did enhanced that treatment. I strongly believe that.”

With all her treatment completed, Julia ‘started her life again’. Continuing to eat well, meditate, and exercise. Her experience inspired her to write a book to help other cancer patients going through the experience, Cancer: The Best of Both Worlds | One woman’s fight against cancer using natural and modern medicines. Her career as a medical herbalist came in handy.

“For each stage, I share advice about what I did. So, for example, during radiotherapy, I took Vitamin C and zinc, Coenzyme Q10, black cohosh, grapeseed oil, turmeric, and mushrooms. I rested and slept in, I had nutritious food. I drank lots of water and green tea. I walked for 30 minutes every day.”

Julia doesn’t make any money from the book; instead, all the proceeds go to pay for ‘Julia’s Bras’, which are made in Wellington especially for breast cancer patients while waiting for treatment. Not one to do anything by halves, she also came up with skin creams to minimise chemotherapy and radiation burns. The essential oils she uses were based on advice she received from a friend who happened to be a senior oncologist at Penny Brohn UK (formerly the Bristol Cancer Help Centre), a cancer charity with a mind/body/spirit focus. During treatment, Julia applied her cream five times a day and experienced no radiation burns (a high majority of patients do).

Although her own experience is now seven years behind her, cancer is still a big part of Julia’s life, but mostly because she sells her creams and her book for others to benefit from. She is also holding a breakfast (in December) to raise money to fund the manufacture of more Julia’s Bras.

Julia also wanted to share some suggestions from her book for the friends, family and work colleagues of patients, and what they might find difficult to say: “I want you to know that you are there for me and will support me. If I'm feeling low, I can talk to you without being judged or feeling that I am a burden. I need to have fun, forget about my diagnosis, and have a laugh. Sometimes I feel anxious and can't explain why my moods change frequently, so forgive me if I'm grumpy or tired and don’t feel like seeing you today. I want to hear only good stories about people who have survived cancer and treatment. Be confident you have hope for my future. I don’t want to know that surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy are wrong for me and are harmful. I have made my own informed choices. Under no circumstances tell me you know how I feel. Even if you have experienced cancer, your experience would have been different from mine. I am not my cancer. I am me.”

The information shared in this article is based on Julia Davidson’s personal experiences and is intended for general informational purposes only. Always seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment.