Ten years of cancer care providing hope for another day

"Absolute angels" is how cancer patient Julie Mancini describes her care team at the Fiona Stanley (FSH) Cancer Centre.

Julie is well placed to provide comment and is a familiar, friendly face to many at the centre, having spent ten years of her life as patient there.

It's not a milestone she ever imagined reaching, but for Julie, her tenth anniversary of care at FSH's specialist Cancer Centre is well worth celebrating. It marks ten years since her stem cell transplant following a relapse of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).

"I truly see every day is a gift: it's a privilege to reach another day – a new sunrise and sunset, and precious time and memory-making with my nearest and dearest,” reflects Julie.

An aggressive cancer of the blood and bone marrow, AML causes the rapid buildup of abnormal white blood cells and interferes with normal blood cell production.

Julie was originally diagnosed with AML in 2014 after her flu-like symptoms turned out to be something far more serious.

Just 24 hours later Julie was receiving chemotherapy at Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) supported by now FSH Haematology Clinical Nurse Consultant, Diane Sutherland.

She was part of the convoy of first patients to arrive at the newly built FSH from RPH in 2015, making the start of her journey with the FSH Cancer Centre.

With her sister as her donor, she received a stem cell transplant to combat her condition, and since then, the FSH Cancer Centre has remained an important part of Julie's life.

She lives with Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease, a long-term complication of stem cell transplants where the donor's immune cells attack the patient's tissues, meaning monthly visits to the hospital for ongoing care from her team.

Julie is the first to acknowledge how much her doctors and nurses have done for her. She singled out Haematology Consultant Dr Duncan Purtill for going above and beyond to give her the best outcome possible.

"I can't speak more highly of them, from the reception to staff to my doctors, they're all so wonderful,” said Julie.

"At one point they were talking about moving to a quality-of-life model of care, but Dr Purtill wouldn't take it and enlisted Dr Boan from infectious diseases to help too.

"The care has been amazing, and I can't speak more highly of the staff at the Cancer Centre and on Ward 7D,” she said

"I'm now involved with urology on a regular basis, they keep me in the loop and they're very understanding."

Despite her monthly check-ups, Julie is dedicated to taking her life one day at a time, a sentiment that her care team have also adopted for her treatment since her transplant.

"When I was going through the transplant, I only wanted to take it one day at a time, I'm wasn't interested in tomorrow or yesterday – I was concentrating on today," said Julie.

"The doctors and nurses also let me focus on my treatment that way too by not overloading me with information and just focusing on the treatment I was going to have on the day."

Over the past decade, Julie has received not only exceptional medical care but also deep compassion and emotional support that has carried her through her hardest moments.

"Even when I was at rock bottom, they showed so much love and empathy which helped me through my darkest days," said Julie.

"They're all angels, absolute angels."

Outside of hospital life, Julie treasures time with her family.

She enjoys swimming at the pool, travelling to Augusta for fishing and relaxing, and most importantly, making memories with her loved ones.

"I've been able to see my son get married and watch my two grandchildren grow up," she said.

Still committed to taking it day-by-day, Julie is grateful for the life she currently has and won't let the c-word get her down.

"I'm a survivor and I won't let this cancer thing get into my head. It's not getting me."

Spoken like a true warrior, Julie!

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