Magda Szubanski has spoken about her cancer battle in her first interview since her diagnosis.
The Kath and Kim star announced earlier this year that she had finished chemotherapy for stage four mantle cell lymphoma, a rare type of blood cancer.
“The great news is I’m in deep remission from my cancer,” she said in an interview for 60 Minutes.
Despite the positive news, the actress admitted that she knows being in remission “means that you’re not cured, but it’s at bay.”
“So, it’s an incurable – what’s called an incurable relapse in cancer,” she added, saying that she’s “almost sure that it will come back.”
“It’s a question of when and how bad,” she said.
While the median survival rate for Magda’s type of cancer is eight and a half years, it “could be less or it could be more”.
Magda explained that it’s like living with the “Sword of Damocles” hanging over your head, meaning that she now has a “different awareness of death”.
She also revealed the toll chemotherapy had on her, “it completely annihilates your immune system … it was freaking hard.”
Despite the pain Magda still had her trademark humour and even shared the positive side to losing her hair during treatment.
“It’s like all I had to do was get cancer, and finally, I’d have a good hair day,” she said.
The actress also shared that she had been sexually abused as a young child by older children.
“I hadn’t understood. I just thought it was kids playing. And then they locked me in a wardrobe in the backyard in the midday sun,” she said.
“It was mainly the thing of sort of being manipulated, and being … and that horrible feeling that you are able to be manipulated. I think probably the thing that makes me feel the worst that I feel most ashamed about is that I then did the same thing.
“I actually feel relieved of a burden because to say it out loud, it just, you can just feel this change of, like, ‘Wow, it’s lost its power over me. That shame has lost its power over me’,” she continued.
Magda said that cancer has given her a different perspective on life and what she wants to leave behind.
“There’s a part of me that thinks, If there’s anything that I know that’s gonna help someone else, I don’t know how long I’ve got,” she said.
“I’m gonna bloody share it. I’m gonna put it out there.”
Following her diagnosis, Magda stayed out of the spotlight, as her immune system was weaker due to chemotherapy.
Fans were quick to rally around her following the interview.
“Love this powerhouse of a woman, love her spirit, love her positivity and wishing her good health,” one wrote.
“We adore you, Magda, and I am so glad I got to hear your story tonight. You are an amazingly strong person. An absolute legend to us all,” another said.
“Thank you for being so open and honest,” another added.
Image: 60 minutes
