Tasmanian Governor Kate Warner is getting on with life while having cancer treatment
Despite undergoing cancer treatment, Kate Warner has barely missed an official engagement, is continuing her academic research and is maintaining her fitness through cycling and bushwalking.
Tasmania
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SOME days she feels a little weak, but neither cancer nor chemotherapy have left a dent in Kate Warner’s strength of character.
Tasmania’s first female governor is getting on with the job and getting on with life.
Her Excellency is leaving the medical “battle” to the doctors, while she gets on with her own suite of duties – as governor, legal scholar, mother and wife.
“It’s not as though I feel I am fighting cancer – that’s the doctor’s job – I am just getting on with my life,” she says, striding through the gardens of Government House.
The 70-year-old is continuing to embrace everything life has to offer.
She has barely missed an official engagement, is continuing her academic research and is maintaining her fitness through cycling and bushwalking.
Even her chemotherapy treatments at the Royal Hobart Hospital, where she goes once every three weeks, are embraced as an opportunity for some fresh air and sunshine.
“I walk to my treatment … it’s a nice way to get there,” she says.
Professor Warner knows the days immediately after chemotherapy come with side effects, so those pre-treatment walks from Government House to the hospital are savoured as the best she will feel for a few days.
“When I walk in to the hospital, I’m rejoicing in feeling well.”
In the four years Prof Warner has been Governor of Tasmania, she has become widely known for her energy, poise and sharp mind.
Those qualities are now keeping her calm in the face of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a diagnosis delivered suddenly in January.
“I haven’t really had negative thoughts – I think I’m a born optimist,” she tells the Sunday Tasmanian.
“Even when I found out I had cancer, I knew it could have been a worse type of cancer.”
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is the most common and curable form of lymphoma, and Prof Warner’s first scan after three rounds of chemotherapy has shown the treatment is working.
It was a result she had fully expected, as her logical mind and positive outlook had not entered into darker territory.
“I kind of expected the results would be OK … I was pleased, but I also thought ‘well, that’s what I expected’.”
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But clearing up the cancer has taken its toll on some days, when she has felt particularly tired and nauseated directly after chemotherapy.
She says the side-effects, on the bad days, have felt like “a combination of a hangover and jetlag”.
“On those days I think ‘please let it be tomorrow’.”
But for the most part, she is able to offset her slightly weaker physical state with a well-trained strength of mind.
“You do feel pretty average some days. But if you don’t feel too bad, you can concentrate on something else,” she says.
Even hair loss has been accepted. The state’s governor is all style and confidence, topped with a turban hat and a positive perspective.
“Losing my hair wasn’t very nice, because it came out in big chunks.
“But once it’s out, it’s out.
“It’s very liberating having no hair actually. You don’t have to blow dry it or brush it.”
Prof Warner says her academic background has probably helped her maintain a mental discipline throughout the journey.
“I’ve had a lot of practice in concentrating … and this ability to focus my mind has helped me think about other things.”
The first indication of any physical change came in September last year, after the keen bushwalker felt a pain in her hip. A couple of months later she became concerned because the pain had not healed, and it was threatening her regular summer climb up the twin peaks of Bishop and Clerk, on Maria Island.
“I got out of bed one morning and discovered I had a sore hip, and I thought I had pulled a muscle,” she says.
When doctors investigated, they found the pain was the result of a cracked pelvis, due to the cancer.
“I hadn’t been feeling sick, so I don’t know how long I’d had it [cancer].”
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As soon as she announced the diagnosis, in mid-January, Prof Warner vowed to continue with her official duties as Governor through treatment.
She has certainly got on with the job, with barely a change in tempo.
Last year Prof Warner carried out 600 official engagements in her role as governor, and in the first three months of this year she has maintained the same pace despite her treatment. Her official days start at 8am and finish anywhere between 6pm and 7pm, with about three evening functions a week.
She pulled on her hiking boots last Wednesday, and walked some of the Organ Pipes track for the opening of Hobart City Council’s “Great Short Walk” restoration project on kunanyi/Mt Wellington.
“I’m lucky to have so many distractions – that really does make a huge difference,” she says. “I find that even if I feel a bit yuck, once I get into it [an event] and I get distracted, I’m fine.”
The legal academic is also continuing research into the jury system, at the University of Tasmania, one day a week.
As well as her own strength of character, Prof Warner is buttressed by her husband Richard Warner and two daughters, Meg Bignell and Emily Warner.
“I’ve had lots of great support,” she says.
The day she told her daughters about the diagnosis was the hardest part of the journey so far.
“The worst day was telling my daughters, because they got so upset.”
Prof Warner says her daughters have wanted to sit with her during the four-hour chemotherapy treatments, but she waves them away.
“I don’t want anyone to sit with me because it’s too boring for them. And it means I can get on with my reading.”
While Prof Warner is taking cancer in her stride, those around her watch on in awe.
Mr Warner says his wife is all valour. “She is wonderful and brave and courageous.”
anne.mather@news.com.au
HOPE LIFTS AS CHEMO HITS MARK
THE first results of Tasmanian Governor Kate Warner’s cancer treatment have revealed good news.
The 70-year-old started chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin lymphoma in January and scans following three rounds of treatment have shown the treatment is working.
“The feedback after the scans was really positive,” Professor Warner said.
The trailblazing academic, who became the state’s first female governor in 2014, said the results showed lesions on her liver and lungs had reduced.
“It was a good sign the chemotherapy is working,” she said.
The Governor is now half way through her chemotherapy treatment, which will end in June.
She has thanked staff at the Royal Hobart Hospital, where she is being treated every three weeks, for their dedication.
Prof Warner, patron of the Cancer Council, said she was fortunate to have a curable form of cancer.
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is considered the most common and curable form of lymphoma.
“We know cancer is not a death sentence in most cases,” Prof Warner said.
The Governor announced her diagnosis in January.
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