\u201cShe saved me. My outcome was not good without a donor,\u201d Homer says. <\/p>\n
And she might honestly be putting that lightly, because while the stem cell transplant saved her, the past 12 months did everything they possibly could to kill her. <\/p>\n
\u2018I think you\u2019ll find this is somebody else\u2019s test\u2019<\/p>\n
A little over a year ago, on July 1, Homer was sitting in a routine meeting at The Breeze, where she worked as a radio host. It was an ordinary day. Until the phone rang. <\/p>\n
Homer usually ignores calls from unknown numbers, but this time, she answered. <\/p>\n
On the other end was Auckland Hospital, asking her to come in to discuss the results of routine blood tests ordered by her doctor. <\/p>\n
Homer felt perfectly fine and assumed there had been a mistake. But when she arrived, and a doctor began explaining those results, it became clear something was very wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said, \u2018We think you\u2019ve got acute myeloid leukemia\u2019. I was like, \u2018I think you\u2019re wrong. I think you\u2019ll find this is somebody else\u2019s test\u2019. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe said, \u2018No, we\u2019re pretty sure this is what it is. And we need to admit you right now\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n
That\u2019s when panic began to set in. Homer rang her husband Andy Pilcher, and when he arrived, she broke down, crying in his arms as worst-case scenarios went through her head. <\/p>\n
The next day, she had a bone marrow biopsy, which confirmed what they already knew: Homer was about to go to war against aggressive blood and bone marrow cancer. <\/p>\n
She started the first of four rounds of chemotherapy four days later. She turned 56 in the middle of it. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m hoping to have a better birthday this year,\u201c Homer says. <\/p>\n
She wouldn\u2019t leave hospital for another five weeks, and in the past year, she spent a total of 17 weeks in hospital as her cancer journey took unexpected twists and turns. <\/p>\n
Radio and TV personality Mel Homer at her home in Auckland. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
The hardest parts<\/p>\n
Every year between 120-150 New Zealanders are diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML), although it is most common in people over 65. AML occurs when certain genes or chromosomes mutate in the blood and white blood cells multiply uncontrollably, crowding out healthy red blood cells. It can be fatal if not treated quickly by intensive chemotherapy and stem cell transplants.<\/p>\n
Homer\u2019s body, she says, reacted against almost everything doctors used to treat the disease. <\/p>\n
She developed mouth ulcers, which left her unable to speak, eat or swallow as a side effect of the chemo and medications. <\/p>\n
She was given a feeding tube, but she vomited it up, which led to its own complications. <\/p>\n
She experienced bleeds behind the eyes, concerns of potentially losing her sight, countless infections, allergic reactions, extreme fevers and shakes, fainting and endless nausea and vomiting. <\/p>\n
There were also fears she might have a brain tumour, after she developed extreme pain in her head – scans quickly ruled that out. <\/p>\n
Homer gets emotional thinking about how her children saw it all. Watching them see her sick was one of the hardest parts. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re 19, 22 and 25 now and they were just amazing. They were just so supportive. I was worried about how they were coping because it was not pretty and I was so sick. I couldn\u2019t talk a lot of the time. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut I didn\u2019t die and I never s*** the bed,\u201d Homer says with a laugh, though she admits the second part was a close call that helped her come to understand the \u201cin sickness and in health\u201d part of marriage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been married for 26 years. [Andy] didn\u2019t even miss a beat, being quietly supportive all the time. But it must have been so difficult for him watching me go through some of the things.\u201d <\/p>\n
At one stage, she was unable to even drink water because of the pain in her mouth and throat.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said watching my face and the realisation of what was going on was really difficult for him. But he never was dramatic about things. He just quietly helped.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u2018I thought we were carrying you out of here in a coffin\u2019<\/p>\n
While Homer can\u2019t remember the exact moment that she thought she wasn\u2019t going to survive, she says the people around her have stories they\u2019ve begun to share with her.<\/p>\n
During one blood transfusion, she needed a lot of platelets (tiny cells that help blood clot) and only two people in New Zealand were a match to donate to her. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey [used] special platelets. But there was something in the mix of the bag of platelets. We don\u2019t know what it was, something rogue. It could have been anything, and my body reacted to it. <\/p>\n
\u201cI went into full anaphylactic shock almost instantly; my lips and my eyes and my face started swelling. I got the full body rash. I couldn\u2019t breathe, my throat started closing up.My mum was with me when it was happening, watching me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hospital staff quickly realised what was happening and acted fast to save her. <\/p>\n
\u201cMum said to me later, \u2018I thought we were carrying you out of here in a coffin\u2019. She thought I was going to die.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite being considered a high-risk cancer patient because of a series of rare mutations, Homer tried to stay positive and not think about the \u201cwhat ifs\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou do go down those little rabbit holes now and again like, \u2018Who\u2019s going to be at my funeral? What songs am I going to play?\u2019 But I tried not to think too far about what could go wrong.\u201d <\/p>\n
While she was told her cancer was likely curable, that cure wouldn\u2019t come from chemo alone. Homer needed a stem cell transplant, a treatment with a long waitlist, no clear finish line and no obvious matches. <\/p>\n
\u201cWith the stem cell transplant, a donor\u2019s cells get put into my blood, and they go into my bone marrow, and take over my immune system and create a new one. You get a new blood type – your donor\u2019s blood type – and hopefully it kills all the cancer,\u201d Homer explains. <\/p>\n
While matches are usually found in the wider family, none of hers were a full match – and her mutations meant she needed a very specific match. So, doctors turned to a global donor register of more than a million people. Two people in America were a match but couldn\u2019t be tracked down. Homer had to wait and hope for more than seven months. <\/p>\n
While she was waiting, her cancer markers moved back to positive, indicating the disease was returning. <\/p>\n
Finally, a match was found: a young woman in France who was able, and willing, to help. <\/p>\n
Once that donor\u2019s stem cells arrived in New Zealand, via a medical chaperone, the transplant was quick, only taking 30 minutes through an IV line. It was harder on her body than Homer expected, but doctors reassured her recovery from a stem cell transplant was gradual and tenuous and could take up to a year.<\/p>\n
\u201c[That woman] has donated something that saved my life. She\u2019s just a random woman who at some stage said she\u2019d be on the register, and that saved me,\u201d Homer says. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut I also need to thank all of the people that donate blood. I had so many transfusions, and I just appreciate people who donate just because they can. Because it kept me alive and kept me going when things got really bad during treatment.\u201d <\/p>\n
A new normal<\/p>\n
Homer has spent much of her career in front of the camera. She admits, before getting cancer, she cared deeply about her looks and ageing. But she\u2019s come to learn that none of that really matters. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo one cares. No one\u2019s looking and going, \u2018Oh my God, more wrinkles\u2019. No one cares except us, and it holds us back from really enjoying things. But now, I look back on photos now, and I go, \u2018Wow, I\u2019m awesome\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n
Homer says her trademark locks formed part of her identity. Photo \/ Facebook<\/p>\n
She lost her hair during her treatment. She came to terms with it quickly, cutting off her trademark long locks herself, wanting to get ahead of the disease for once. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt does seem really shallow, but hair is also your identity. And I had long hair so I could hide behind it and play with it. So I do miss it.\u201d <\/p>\n
It\u2019s starting to grow back now and she proudly displays her fresh tufts on what she was thrilled to find out \u201cwasn\u2019t a misshapen head\u201d under all that hair. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s a bookmark to the end of her active cancer treatment, and she\u2019s desperate to get back to some sort of normality. She\u2019s slowly figuring out what returning to \u201cthe real world\u201d looks like. <\/p>\n
Part of that comes at a financial cost. One of the drugs she may need for ongoing treatment is unfunded in New Zealand, and could cost her up to $100,000 over the next few years. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got more of a chance of getting a second cancer or this one coming back. So we need to monitor that, as I try to start my life.\u201d <\/p>\n
But today, there is no sign of cancer in her body and Homer is embracing that as best she can, determined to move forward. <\/p>\n
She says being on \u201cthe other side\u201d of cancer has felt isolating at times, and she still struggles to wrap her head around what she has been through over the past 12 months. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m seeing the psychologist at the Cancer Society. They offer cancer patients free psychology sessions, which is good to help me figure out how to deal in this sort of in-between stage.\u201d <\/p>\n
She\u2019s gradually regaining physical strength too, though progress has been slow, even 1kg dumbbells exhaust her. And she is preparing to begin what she describes as her \u201cbaby vaccines\u201d, after her immune system was reset to zero during the stem cell transplant.<\/p>\n
It means she still has to wear a mask in public places because she has no immunity and the smallest thing could make her very sick. The fear surrounding that is real – she doesn\u2019t want to do this again. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have that anxiety around crowds. It\u2019s like a real PTSD, because if I get a cold, it could be really serious. Which is why you\u2019ve just got to be balanced in trying to live a life again and not just sitting at home on your own and also being cautious.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mel Hoomer has been battling acute myeloid leukemia. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
She also wants to return to broadcasting – her old role is gone after she was medically terminated from MediaWorks, but she says when she\u2019s ready, there will be a role waiting for her. She is grateful for that. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I really want to do a cancer podcast – but a fun one that\u2019s talking to interesting people,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
While Homer stops shy of being grateful for the lessons cancer has taught her, she admits she has learned a lot about herself and who is really in her corner. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve learned you\u2019re stronger than you think you are. And you\u2019re probably more loved than you think you are. Finding this level of love for me has been really overwhelming. I\u2019m so appreciative of everyone. It\u2019s meant the world to me.\u201d <\/p>\n
Just don\u2019t call her brave.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t feel brave,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I was on a road and there was a fork in the road and one side said \u2018This way to a long and painful process with an uncertain outcome and lots of grief and heartache\u2019. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the other sign said \u2018Certain death\u2019. There was no choice. You\u2019ve got to go the one way.\u201d <\/p>\n
Jenni Mortimer is the New Zealand Herald\u2019s chief lifestyle and entertainment reporter. Jenni started at the Herald in 2017 and has previously worked as lifestyle, entertainment and travel editor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cShe saved me. My outcome was not good without a donor,\u201d Homer says. And she might honestly be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[95,15497,145134,9516,10748,2534,796,71,42,1364,79144,257966,57200,88183,424,13840,29802,57201,43,90,17162,24002,9348,53883,6642,223,40,38,41,39,1299,379],"class_list":["post-520211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-and","tag-blue","tag-bolt","tag-broadcaster","tag-came","tag-cancer","tag-diagnosis","tag-from","tag-headlines","tag-her","tag-homer","tag-homers","tag-jenni","tag-leukaemia","tag-life","tag-like","tag-mel","tag-mortimer","tag-news","tag-on","tag-saved","tag-stranger","tag-survived","tag-surviving","tag-tells","tag-the","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-who","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}