Sep 2, 2026 · 55 min · 9 segments
In this episode of the Talking Blood Cancer podcast, host Kate Arkadieff speaks with Nicole McKenna about her experience following a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) in 2018. Nicole…
Nicole McKennaGuest
Kate ArkadieffHost
It's from literally from one day to the next, there were all sorts of things that had to be canceled.
And you move from the world of being a person who's well to a person who's sick and everything changes.
And you only know what it's like to be a sick person when you are, because everyone else goes about living their life and you would expect nothing different.
But having had that experience, you're changed forever because you understand in a way that it brings you incredible wisdom and perspective, I think.
I mean, this sounds crazy, but there are gifts that come with serious illness like that when you recover that you're better.
I certainly think I'm better in a whole range of ways because of that experience.
Even though it's not a pathway you would ever wish on anyone to gain perspective and wisdom, but certainly it is a pathway to that, I think.
And I think you mentioned your girls and that quick transition of getting that support around them.
Did you try and manage everything for them as normal as possible? Like obviously their schooling, etc., whilst you were in hospital? Because as a mother, I've spoken to some mothers who have been diagnosed recently and it's, they've spoken about that real pull of going, I need to do treatment for myself so I can be here for my children in the future.
But how do I let go of that rope and of that maternal instinct to connect and support them? whilst I'm going through one of the biggest challenges.
I feel like in some ways, because my girls were a little bit older, so they were still kids, 14 and 17.
There was part of me that felt you have loved them and supported them and created...
the world that they live in, all of their life, that there's a lot in the bank account in relation to them and their capacity and the people around them, that they're going to be okay.
It's from literally from one day to the next, there were all sorts of things that had to be canceled.
And you move from the world of being a person who's well to a person who's sick and everything changes.
And you only know what it's like to be a sick person when you are, because everyone else goes about living their life and you would expect nothing different.
But having had that experience, you're changed forever because you understand in a way that it brings you incredible wisdom and perspective, I think.
I mean, this sounds crazy, but there are gifts that come with serious illness like that when you recover that you're better.
I certainly think I'm better in a whole range of ways because of that experience.
Even though it's not a pathway you would ever wish on anyone to gain perspective and wisdom, but certainly it is a pathway to that, I think.
And I think you mentioned your girls and that quick transition of getting that support around them.
Did you try and manage everything for them as normal as possible? Like obviously their schooling, etc., whilst you were in hospital? Because as a mother, I've spoken to some mothers who have been diagnosed recently and it's, they've spoken about that real pull of going, I need to do treatment for myself so I can be here for my children in the future.
But how do I let go of that rope and of that maternal instinct to connect and support them? whilst I'm going through one of the biggest challenges.
I feel like in some ways, because my girls were a little bit older, so they were still kids, 14 and 17.
There was part of me that felt you have loved them and supported them and created...
the world that they live in, all of their life, that there's a lot in the bank account in relation to them and their capacity and the people around them, that they're going to be okay.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
