\u201cIt was like, my life is never going to be the same … that was when I realised I had an issue. I was like, \u2018Why am I thinking about this and being so gutted about this and I\u2019ve got cancer?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce you stop drinking, you realise what you were using it for, and so much of that you have to work through.\u201d<\/p>\n
She cut down to two drinks a week while going through chemotherapy, surgery and radiation. Just two weeks after finishing her treatment, she was diagnosed with leukaemia, a side effect of the chemo, and had to undergo a stem cell transplant.<\/p>\n
Twigg took the second diagnosis as a sign she needed to quit alcohol completely.<\/p>\n
Before her cancer diagnoses, Twigg would drink on four out of seven days a week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like someone above was saying, \u2018You\u2019re just going to go back to your old self if you\u2019re not careful\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, she turned to exercise, breathwork and meditation, practices that eventually led her to open wellness centre O-Studio Wellington with her husband Sam in 2025.<\/p>\n
Since recovering from two bouts of cancer, Twigg says quitting alcohol has had \u201chuge\u201d benefits for her health and wellbeing.<\/p>\n
\u201cLife is calmer and easier and much more stable. If I\u2019m sick, I don\u2019t get sick for as long, I don\u2019t get sick as often.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also changed her approach to family life and work. Now, she\u2019s able to be fully present with her two daughters. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m always able to drive them from wherever, not putting them in Ubers because I want to drink. I remember when they were younger, I used to pop them to bed in a hurry because I wanted to go down and have my drink.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parenting teenagers as they approach drinking age is a challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard navigating the teenage years with drinking when you\u2019re not a drinker … I don\u2019t want to be that parent that says no, but everything in your body is saying, \u2018Don\u2019t do it\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just have to trust them and know that they\u2019ll make the right choices. What you want them to do is be in control, be safe and know that I\u2019m there to pick them up.\u201d <\/p>\n
Twigg now relies on exercise, breathwork and meditation. Photo \/ JackRubyCreative<\/p>\n
Sobriety has given her more motivation and the ability to handle the hard things in life.<\/p>\n
\u201c[I\u2019m] able to keep my focus on the business and bring that to life. I think if I\u2019d been drinking, I would have dropped the ball, I would have been like, this is too hard. But now I have those other tools to help me get through.\u201d <\/p>\n
Before her diagnoses, she was aware of the link between alcohol and cancer – but not that alcohol is a cause of several types of the disease, including breast cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still feel like there\u2019s an element of people not wanting to believe it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
In hindsight, Twigg says without her diagnosis, she wouldn\u2019t have been able to stop drinking.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt took me two years to stop thinking about it. It\u2019s not a quick, easy fix.\u201d<\/p>\n
She says, in her case, her friendships changed along with her priorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone that didn\u2019t drink, I was like, \u2018Oh, I feel so sorry for them, life must be so boring\u2019. Now I just couldn\u2019t think of anything worse. No one could pay me to go back.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause suddenly the idea of sitting around having 10 drinks in an afternoon or evening is just not fun for me anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt took me two years to stop thinking about drinking. It\u2019s not a quick, easy fix,\u201d Twigg says. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n
How does alcohol increase the risk of cancer?<\/p>\n
Alcohol is converted in the body into a carcinogen – a cancer-causing substance – called acetaldehyde.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think that between 5 and 10% of all cancer is related to alcohol consumption, which is not something we like to hear,\u201d says Centre for Cancer Research director Professor Andrew Shelling.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt also causes inflammation, and we know that inflammation in general is a precursor for cancer. It also increases weight gain, and obesity is probably going to overtake cigarette smoking as a single risk factor in cancer in the next few years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alcohol is linked to mouth, throat, breast, liver and colorectal cancers.<\/p>\n