MP reveals raw moment when shock cancer diagnosis ‘felt real’

Mundingburra MP believes her darkest days of cancer recovery are behind her, as she reveals the moment – while she was preparing to sit in parliament – that the diagnosis became reality.

Assistant Minister and Mundingburra MP Janelle Poole Photo: Steve Pohlner

It was not until her hair started falling out in the sink as she prepared to sit in parliament that the shocking reality of a cancer diagnosis sunk in for MP Janelle Poole.

The member for Mundingburra told The Courier-Mail she believes her darkest days of cancer recovery are behind her, and once sat in an online meeting while completing a round of chemotherapy at the Townsville University Hospital.

Mundingburra MP Janelle Poole, 57, has yet to be given the all-clear following her diagnosis of follicular Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma diagnosis eight months ago, and she will remain on trial medication and a monthly injection into her stomach for another 18 months.

Mundingburra MP Janelle Poole. Photo: Steve Pohlner

But at Parliament House this week, Mrs Poole said she was feeling more positive since her chemotherapy treatments stopped six weeks ago.

“I’ve just started feeling like myself again,” she said.

“It’s hard to explain, because until I started feeling like myself, and that’s probably only been about the last month, I didn’t realise how unwell I was.”

Last year the long-serving police officer felt heavy back pain which she assumed was the result of extensive doorknocking in a campaign against Labor’s Les Walker.

It was soon discovered her pain was a symptom of something more insidious, and with the backing of her leader David Crisafulli, who coincidentally was the last LNP politician to hold the Mundingburra seat, she revealed her diagnosis to voters.

But her diagnosis truly sunk in during a parliamentary week earlier this year, as she was getting ready to sit in the chamber.

“I was brushing my hair and this hair (fell) in the sink, I then went, ‘Oh, it’s actually real,’” Mrs Poole said.

“That really hit home for me, and I didn’t think it would.

“And (I) probably had a little meltdown I think, because when you stop and think about it, your hair is part of your identity.

“Then I shook myself off, got up and went, ‘just get on with the job’, it’s just hair in the end.”

Mrs Poole was uncertain if her recovery would have been different if she had not been elected into parliament and remained a police officer.

But she knows as a politician she had little time to think about her diagnosis.

“It was just another thing I had to manage, and there were quite a few Teams meetings that I was on, and I would be having a Teams meeting while I’m getting chemo at the Townsville University Hospital,” Mrs Poole said.

“It’s all about good time management. Why not make the best use of your time?”

She did not want her friends or family treating her differently, and an arrangement she made with her husband was he would not ask if she was having a good day.

If she woke early and went for a walk it was clear she was doing well, but if she remained in bed it would be clear she was struggling.

Originally published as MP reveals raw moment when shock cancer diagnosis ‘felt real’