Edwina Bartholomew's emotional health update
Edwina Bartholomew has opened up about the life-changing cancer diagnosis she received earlier this year in an interview with Stellar.
The Sunrise star, who was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) in July, appeared on the Something To Talk About podcast and opened up about her health battle.
Edwina said she feels extremely lucky because they caught the cancer early as she reassured her fans that she is doing "really well", explaining that she takes her medication twice daily and will have to continue to do so for the next few years.
"My white blood cell count is almost back to normal, and there's another indicator that's looking really good as well," she shared.
"Perspective and mindset have been a big part of the process from the get-go. People can live with this their entire life and because I caught it so early, I could be rid of it in a few years."
She admitted the diagnosis prompted her to start taking care of her health and where her priorities should be, after announcing that she would cut down on her work on Sunrise in September.
“The 24/7 go, go, go approach I had to life for the past 40 years had to shift. This has definitely been a huge takeaway for me that life can’t continue like that. I’ve had to say to work, ‘I can’t now go back to work five days a week at 3am in the morning. It’s not something that I can do,’” she said.
“To their credit, Channel Seven has been phenomenal about that. Understanding that for my family, for me and my health, that’s not something I can do right now.
“Having to set really clear parameters around that isn’t something I’ve ever done before. It’s like I finally grew some balls after 20 years of working where I just said, ‘Right, these are the non-negotiables in my life and I will not compromise on my family, myself, my marriage, my life and my health’. And that’s it. And wow, that’s been powerful.”
She also opened up about the moment she broke the news to her parents, who she told in a “really emotional” conversation.
“Watching Dad find out was probably harder than watching Mum, because I think dads are often quite stoic, aren’t they?" she said in the interview.
"I was able to explain to Mum and Dad straight up the nuts and bolts and the practicalities of it, what would happen and the treatment – and that I had to have a biopsy to confirm it,” she continued.
“And they’re fairly pragmatic people. It was a really emotional discussion but also they could see that it wasn’t the end of the world and I was going to be OK.”
Images: Stellar