Speaking up for a cure

A stint of show hosting provides Jaquie Brown with a welcome break from the daily routine.

I’ve had a good week, thanks for asking. I was in Wellington on Wednesday to MC an event for Breast Cancer Cure, it meant I had to stay overnight. Read: I got to stay on my own in a hotel and sleep in until I woke naturally and not with a piece of Lego being pressed into my eye socket by my two-year-old. In other words, I got a rare child-free night and it was more exciting than Christmas.

I’m an ambassador for BCC and I love them because their aim is to find a cure by 2018 so that breast cancer becomes something women survive and live with, not die from. Imagine that.

It was emotional for me speaking about something so close to home, having lost Michelle my sister-inlaw to breast cancer only a few months ago. I did cry as I spoke, but it was good.

We heard from Professor Andrew Shelling, who has been doing research into breast cancer. I quizzed him on the things I’m doing as preventative measures: intermittent fasting and cutting out red meat. He said that would help. Yessss. But nothing is fail safe. Boo.

Cancer is a nasty bugger that doesn’t discriminate. We all know this. He and I talked about other things, too. My current favourite subject, life and how the sadness of it makes the enjoyment of it clearer. He agreed with me on that. So I kept it in mind as I sat watching the dress rehearsal of the WOW show that night.

I sat next to Kiwi music legend Don McGlashan and tried not to fan-girl out too hard. He was the musical director this year for WOW and I just marvelled at the creativity of the show. It was next level, truly. I’m still processing what I saw. The shiny, spiky, floaty magical madness of it all.

I needed a rest after the sensory overload, luckily there was a hotel bed waiting for me which I snored into and sleepdribbled all over in total appreciation.

I sat next to Kiwi music legend Don McGlashan and tried not to fan-girl out too hard.