Jean beat a brain tumour; now she’s focused on rowing for Australia in Paris

Jean Mitchell was the fittest she had been. The year was 2016 and the then-teenage rower had just returned home from competing in the Henley Royal Regatta in the UK after a belter of a season in Australia in which her school team claimed the national title for a second year in a row.

Mitchell was considering a sporting career beyond school rowing when the throbbing in the back of her neck started. At first, she dismissed it as tight muscles from training – she was following a rigorous program, after all. But then her vision started to blur, and she lost the ability to walk in a straight line.

Jean Mitchell is in line to represent Australia at Paris 2024.Credit: Janie Barrett

“We just thought that was kind of hilarious. It just seemed like I was drunk all the time,” Mitchell said. “But then, towards the end, I was just so dizzy. I’d started vomiting and it just wasn’t very nice.”

It was then that Mitchell’s mother took her to Epworth Hospital, where doctors discovered a four-centimetre tumour in her brain. Mitchell had gone to four other specialists in previous months, but none had thought to do an MRI.

Sitting on a hospital bed with her parents by her side, Mitchell was in shock.

“I remember thinking when I was diagnosed, ‘You always hear these things happen to other people.’ Other people get cancer and horrible things happen to other people, but you never think it’s going to happen to you,” she said.

An early-morning training session for Jean Mitchell in Penrith, NSW.Credit: Janie Barrett

“It’s just the biggest shock, and it’s not the news that you think you’re going to hear in your lifetime, especially at 16.”

Within days, Mitchell underwent surgery to remove the tumour. Two weeks later, scientists in the United States confirmed the mass was a medulloblastoma, a type of brain cancer that develops at the base of the skull.

The diagnosis started a two-year medical journey for Mitchell, who had to pause exercise and full-time study to focus on getting through radiation and several rounds of chemotherapy, including a year of oral medication.

She approached her cancer battle like she would a two-kilometre race, treating each round of chemotherapy as a 500-metre row. Breaking the treatment into stages helped her stay positive, but it was gruelling.

Mitchell, who used to chew on gum and lollipops to mask the metallic taste of chemotherapy, hasn’t been able to enjoy the sweets since.

“Chemotherapy does live up to its name. At the time, I couldn’t even say the word without bursting into tears,” she said.

Formally in remission, Mitchell returned to rowing in her final year of high school and soon she was training two to three times a day with the Melbourne University Boat Club. It was there that the idea of representing Australia crept back into her mind.

“I was having a conversation with my friend, and she said that she wanted to make the national training centre,” she said. “I was like ‘Oh, wow, that’s a pretty big thing to say.’ But then I thought why can’t I do that?”

A scar from brain surgery is still visible on the back of Mitchell’s neck. Credit: Janie Barrett

It is this determination and fighting spirit that helped Mitchell claw her way back to competitive rowing and carve a spot for herself in the Australian team. The 24-year-old is in on the shortlist to compete at Paris 2024 in July following an intense roster of training and competitions in Europe. The team will be announced on June 30.

“At the start of the season, it seemed like a bit of a stretch because I hadn’t made the senior team in 2023, but in the back of my mind I knew that 2024 could be the year for me and if I performed the way I knew I could perform, then I could make the team, which I did,” she said.

For Mitchell, who has dreamt of being an Olympian since kindergarten, the prospect of donning green and gold to compete at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, about 30 kilometres east of Paris, feels almost surreal.

“Having been so close to death and then having this moment I think I really have to soak it in and enjoy it for what it is,” Mitchell said. “I can’t wait to see how it all goes.”

Mitchell (fourth from left) training with the Australian team in Penrith. Credit: Janie Barrett

The Australian team flew to Switzerland on May 12, where they will compete in the World Rowing Cup II in Lucerne this weekend. From there, they will travel to Italy to take part in a training camp before going to Poznan, in Poland, to compete in the third cup event in early June. The team will then train in Germany and Italy before travelling to Paris for the Olympics.

Rowing Australia has thrown its weight behind the men’s and women’s eights in the hope of winning its first Olympic gold medal in the event. Both teams are medal contenders after strong performances at the World Cups and world championships.

If Mitchell retains her spot, she will compete in the women’s four event in Paris, which could also be a podium contender.

“I have been someone who has watched the Olympics every year that’s been on,” Mitchell said.

“The fact that I am now going there, and I even get to see cool people that I’ve watched on TV as well, it’s overwhelming. So awesome.”

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