Nic Russell Lost Her Daughter, Survived Cancer, Has Parkinson’s and Needed a New Heart. This Is Her Story.

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In 2005, Nic Russell’s two-year-old daughter, Kenzie, was diagnosed with a rare childhood cancer. Months later, while Kenzie was still in treatment, Nic was diagnosed with breast cancer herself. Kenzie died just after Christmas that year. She was three.

In the years since, Nic has started a children’s grief charity in her daughter’s name, campaigned for women’s access to life-saving cancer treatment, been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and, in 2022, had a heart transplant.

In this conversation, Nic tells Kate about growing up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, fighting to get doctors to listen, the comedian she says saved her life, and what grieving people actually need from the rest of us.

Nic Russell's memoir, Bollix: When Life Isn’t All It’s Craic’d Up To Be, is out now.

If this episode has brought anything up for you, support is available: Lifeline: 13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au

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