Susan Brady with Justin Rogers. Photo \/ Tessa Burrows, Andi Crown<\/p>\n
\u201cThen in 2024, my specialist said my condition had developed into a type of blood cancer<\/a> called myelodysplastic syndrome.\u201d<\/p>\n Three months after the diagnosis, in January last year, Susan underwent a bone marrow transplant.<\/p>\n \u201cThe treatment was extreme, starting with chemotherapy followed by the transplant,\u201d she recalls. \u201cThat only took 40 minutes and it ultimately saved my life.\u201d <\/p>\n Susan is eternally grateful to her donor. <\/p>\n \u201cTo think this total stranger from Europe was a 98% match, whereas my sisters were not, and while you can\u2019t thank your donor in person, I wrote him a letter from my heart because I will never forget his generosity,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Susan is also thankful for her husband of 18 years.<\/p>\n \u201cTerence is extraordinary, I am so lucky to have him,\u201d she says. \u201cHe makes me laugh all the time. He challenges me to be a better version of myself. He is my greatest champion, and he took wonderful care of me throughout those long months of treatment and hospitalisation. This thing didn\u2019t just happen to me \u2013 it happened to both of us.\u201d<\/p>\n Now Susan is radiating good health. <\/p>\n \u201cI did do a bit of woo woo work on myself,\u201d she smiles. \u201cLike talking to my immune system, telling it not to freak out and to trust the process. I am now part-science and part-magic \u2013 not only do I have two sets of DNA inside me, but my blood type has changed from O to B!\u201d<\/p>\n As for the care she received during treatment and recovery, Susan has nothing but gratitude for Christchurch Hospital and respite care centre R\u0101nui House.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s run almost 100% by volunteers. It\u2019s always at capacity and we were there for close to three months. I always say to people, if they can help R\u0101nui House keep up the good work, please donate.\u201d<\/p>\n Susan will always find silver linings, no matter how dark the clouds, and now she\u2019s fully recovered, she is over the moon to be acting again. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so ready to face the world and I feel healthier than I have in years,\u201d she enthuses. \u201cTo be 60 and doing Cabaret, which coincidentally premiered 60 years ago, while my immune system is just one year old!\u201d<\/p>\n Returning to the stage has also reminded Susan that she is an actor.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s who I am and you can\u2019t ever switch that off,\u201d she says. \u201cEverything feels new and amazing, and I am so blessed to be playing these dream roles!\u201d<\/p>\n Cabaret is on at the ASB Waterfront Theatre from September 22 to October 18. See atc.co.nz<\/a> for tickets. To donate blood or bone marrow, visit nzblood.co.nz<\/a>. To donate to R\u0101nui House, see bmct.org.nz<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cMy amazing specialists kept an eye on me for about five years as my health got worse and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":898594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[467276,9716,17242,9490,617,64,22065,63,8421,1728,119106,19802,104543,165871,1617,96393,447,163512,82330,297674,1108,173931,24981,134,5587,467277,8117,8835,467274,84800,27481,467279,33509,3206,467278,47867,64406,133621,4089,319,23228,467275,89089,23697],"class_list":["post-898593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-20year","tag-actor","tag-actress","tag-after","tag-and","tag-au","tag-auckland","tag-australia","tag-back","tag-blood","tag-boards","tag-bone","tag-brady","tag-cabaret","tag-cancer","tag-celebrate","tag-celebrities","tag-christchurchs","tag-companys","tag-completed","tag-court","tag-currently","tag-dream","tag-entertainment","tag-from","tag-hiatus","tag-just","tag-kiwi","tag-marrow","tag-performer","tag-production","tag-rehearsing","tag-returns","tag-role","tag-soldout","tag-stage","tag-susan","tag-talented","tag-theatre","tag-to","tag-transplant","tag-treading","tag-upcoming","tag-wake"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=898593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/898594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=898593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=898593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=898593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Susan is thankful for her husband, Terence Vallelunga. Photo \/ Tessa Burrows, Andi Crown<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The star is now fully recovered. Photo \/ Tessa Burrows, Andi Crown<\/p>\n