'This has to be a mistake': TV star Jaquie Brown rocked by breast cancer diagnosis
New Zealand television personality Jaquie Brown is recovering from a mastectomy, revealing she was diagnosed with breast cancer just months ago.
Brown, 50, detailed her sobering account of being diagnosed in April, describing it as a shock after years of clear mammograms.
“All I could think was, ‘This has to be a mistake’,” she wrote on social media.
“I’m so healthy! You should see how much broccoli I eat. I give to charity. I let other cars merge in front of me. I rescue worms from the rain.
“But there, on the screen in front of me, was a scan of my left breast with an Invasive Lobular Breast Cancer (ILC) that’d been in there for at least a couple of years.”
Brown said ILC is “sneaky” as it grows through the breast in single, thin sheets instead of coalescing into a tumour, making it more difficult to detect.
“Tests showed it wasn’t genetic, so to make this delicious (ER+ PR+ HER2-) tumour, my body followed the common recipe: a pinch of environmental factors + a dollop of being a person over 45 with breasts + a sprinkle of organic ‘not my fault’, then cooking everything on low in the dark for a few years.”
Brown – who has hosted several TV shows, including her hit namesake sitcom The Jaquie Brown Diaries – said she underwent a successful mastectomy in May, a month after her diagnosis.
Her treatment focus was now shifting to protecting her body and “keeping my garden inhospitable to rogue cancer seeds”.
“Radiation, infusions, more surgeries, injections and pills – this is a plan I’ll be on for 10 years.
“It’s a profound shift in my body’s chemistry and honestly, I’m both overwhelmed and grateful.
“My mantra is ‘adjust then thrive’, and that’s what I plan on doing.”
Brown gave a special mention to fellow media personality and friend Dai Henwood, who she worked intimately with while chronicling his stage four bowel cancer journey for his 2024 book The Life of Dai, saying he taught her “that a diagnosis isn’t just for you; it’s for everyone who cares about you too”.
“Everything I learned from Dai in writing The Life of Dai has come into sharp focus since April.
“Thank you, Dai, for your friendship and for preparing me for this without even realising it.”
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