Ron’s pain
The newsreader rallies for the love of his life as she battles cancer
In 1977, Ron Wilson sold everything he owned to buy a plane ticket, flying from Sydney to London to confess his undying love to his friend, now wife, Helen.
“She wasn’t really interested – she had a boyfriend and they were planning to travel around Europe together,” recalls the legendary Ten newsreader, who made his romantic gesture two months after meeting Helen.
“We were at a coffee shop and she was doing her best to let me down gently. So I presented her with this long letter on the back of a serviette and left it there. I said, ‘If you change your mind you know where I am’. And we’ve been together ever since!”
Almost 40 years and three children later, the TVturned-smoothfm-radio newsreader, 65, is still as besotted with Helen as he was then, which makes him all the more determined to help her battle the cancer she’s fought for four years.
Helen was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumours (NETS) in 2012. It’s the same type of tumour that Apple CEO Steve Jobs famously died from in 2011.
There are two main forms of the cancer: one a large tumour, the other a spotty rash that is almost impossible to find with normal testing. Helen tragically has both.
Welcoming Woman’s Day into the couple’s North Sydney home, 63-year-old Helen seems in good spirits as she takes a fresh loaf of banana bread out of the oven.
But Ron can’t help breaking down as he recalls the battles his wife has faced, which have led to her losing 30kg and undergoing a bowel reconstruction.
“She rarely talks about it and she tackles life as it comes, but she was in intensive care a long time,” he says choking up. “Her heart was going into arrhythmia, so it was cycling between 50 beats a minute and 280. She’s had so many operations, they won’t operate anymore.” It was by chance that Helen, a former video editor, first discovered the tumour.
Suffering from a stinging pain in her left side she visited the doctor, but she had to go back several times before she was sent for an endoscopy and colonoscopy. Finally, a radiologist spotted a shadow.
“Most people who have NETS will go to six doctors before they are correctly diagnosed, and at the moment there’s no blood test or scans that will tell you if you have it,” reveals Ron. “If we can just develop a test to reliably identify it,
‘I said: “If you change your mind, you know where I am.” We’ve been together ever since’
that could be a real lifesaver.”
One friend from Ron’s stellar 34-year career who can truly empathise with the tough times he’s facing is his former Good Morning Australia co-star KerriAnne Kennerley, herself battling a family heartache with husband John suffering a tragic spinal accident last March.
“To this day Kerri-anne and I are really good friends,” Ron says. “Helen and I were at their wedding. What’s happened is a real pity. I’m a little bit amazed – and I shouldn’t be, because it’s in her to do that – but I’m really impressed with how she’s taken the whole thing in her stride and is taking control and looking after John. It’s really fantastic.”
For Ron and Helen, much of their strength comes from having their children around for support. Pregnant daughter Ashley, 30 – due any day now – and her partner have moved back into the family home to help out, as have sons James, 32 and 27-year-old Chris.
“It keeps the household alive having them,” smiles Ron, adding that the birth of their grandson will provide a perfect distraction.
“It will give Helen something else to focus on, the baby will be great. Although the disease is more advanced, she’s stabilised, so we’re in a pretty good place at the mome moment. Where there’s hope, there’s life.” For more informationinform on NETS, see unicornunico foundtion.org.au