The Reality of Relapse - What It’s Like To Come Back Again - And Again

The Deep C

When I first met Julie, I felt this deep enduring strength inside of her. The kind of an embattled solider who had seen war many, many times. I knew she was the perfect person to talk about the roller coaster of this disease, how totally unpredictable and out of control it can be, and how difficult (I actually think we use the word impossible in our conversation) it is to ride it. How do you get comfortable knowing your world could be thrown upside-down in an instant? How do you do life, how do you function, how do you buy your child shoes for the next season when you’re not even sure they’ll be alive to wear them? And that’s what I loved and appreciated so much about Julie, she didn’t shy away from these questions and instead spoke honestly and candidly about her struggles, her anger, and what it feels like to take knock after knock and just keep going against the fiercest storm.

Julie’s 6 yr old son Carson was diagnosed with Leukaemia when he was two, with a rare genetic mutation called the Philadelphia Chromosome that makes his treatment more complex. He relapsed during maintenance, received a bone marrow transplant with his big brother Reid as his donor, and it worked - for over 2 years Carson was cancer free. This past Christmas, literally on Christmas Day, Julie received the devastating news that Carson had relapsed for a second time, catapulting them back into the world they thought was behind them. So behind them in fact, that Carson barely remembered his first treatment and was now reentering the cancer world as a very alert, aware and reluctant 6 year old who wanted none of this.

Julie and I talk about the armour we wear during our kids' treatment and if it ever feels safe to take it off. If you’re in a relapse or if you feel like everywhere you turn there’s just another blow, another complication, another setback, take a listen because Julie is proof that we can survive in uncertainty, and that we have more to give than we sometimes believe.

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