When Shelley Bishop was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma earlier this year, the first person she called was her friend Delta Goodrem, who was treated for the blood cancer as a teenager.
With no history of cancer in her family, Ms Bishop sought the counsel of someone with a lived experience of the disease to calm her fears.
"For me, it was the great unknown, it was so daunting," Ms Bishop said.
"I was frantic for the first couple of weeks when I got diagnosed. I was freaking out.
"Delta basically just said: 'It's really scary, but it's nothing that you're not capable of doing. You've just got to take one little step every day to get stronger and listen to your body. Take your time and rest when you need to. Don't try and push yourself too hard.'
Bishop and the pop star were texting before Goodrem's current tour of the US, with Ms Bishop telling her friend of drawing strength from a song, Keep Climbing, on her latest album.
"It's just about taking it one day at a time, just keep going, don't give up," Ms Bishop said.
Ms Bishop, who plays the saxophone, first met and forged a friendship with Goodrem, 37, about six years ago when the celebrity singer-songwriter was laying down tracks at a prominent Sydney recording studio.
Ms Bishop worked as the studio's manager.
'My whole world just absolutely turned upside down'
The 30-year-old moved back to Brisbane at the start of the COVID pandemic and was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in late March after first noticing a lump "above my collar bone" in August last year.
"I was really in tune with my body," she said.
"I know when something doesn't feel right. I was a little more rundown than usual."
An ultrasound ordered by her GP failed to identify cancer.
She returned to her doctor in December when the lump kept growing, but further tests proved "inconclusive".
"It just started to get really, really painful and then it swelled up to be about the size of a walnut," Ms Bishop said.
Pathology tests on the tumour after it was removed in March this year identified it as Hodgkin lymphoma, which most commonly develops in people aged between 15 and 30 and in those aged older than 70.
About 780 cases are diagnosed in Australia each year.
"My whole world just absolutely turned upside down," Ms Bishop said.
Scans at the Mater Private Hospital in South Brisbane identified other masses around her heart and lungs.
The cancer has a good 'cure' rate
Hodgkin lymphoma is a cancer that affects the lymphatic system, part of the body's germ-fighting immune system.
The disease causes white blood cells, called lymphocytes, to grow out of control, resulting in swollen lymph nodes and growths throughout the body.
Her haematologist Raymond Banh said while the cancer had a good "cure" rate – the five-year survival was about 85 per cent and higher if diagnosed in its early stages – aggressive treatment in the past led to reductions in fertility and other complications later in life.
"We're talking about fibrosis of the lungs, effects on the thyroid … the risk of breast cancer, particularly in younger women, and … the risk of heart attacks," Dr Banh said.
But he said meticulous research had allowed cancer specialists to slash the amount of chemotherapy and radiotherapy than would have been given a decade ago, reducing the likelihood of complications down the track, but maintaining survival rates.
"Fertility rates are improving, secondary cancers have improved, we're not blasting people with large amounts of radiotherapy to cause problems down the track," Dr Banh said.
"We tell patients, this is the type of cancer you would want if you were to get cancer. The cure rates are high – about 98 per cent in some cases.
"Shelley was diagnosed early, she's very lucky."
Ms Bishop had four chemotherapy infusions a fortnight apart. After a two-week break, she then had 10 sessions of radiotherapy, finishing her treatment about three months after her diagnosis.
'Scary' to lose her hair
When her hair started falling out, she shaved it all off herself and donated it to charity to make into wigs for children with cancer and alopecia, a condition resulting in hair loss.
"I had the most beautiful, amazing, long, luscious brown hair," Ms Bishop said.
"But it felt fantastic to do something positive for someone in what was the worst time of my life. It was honestly so rewarding.
"Mentally, doing that was really important because it turned something that I was really afraid of into something that was really positive, and I helped others in the process."
Ms Bishop decided against having some of her eggs frozen before her treatment.
"I just wanted to get moving with chemotherapy and just see myself out the other side of it," she said.
"I've never really wanted kids. I've got nieces and nephews and that keeps me busy.
"At the time, my priority was being healthy again and getting rid of cancer, so I said: 'Let's just start the treatment straight away.'"
Ms Bishop's last scan showed no active cancer.
She will continue to have regular appointments with Dr Banh to check that she remains that way.
Her goal is to return to work in the entertainment industry but for now, she is facing life with a different mindset.
"Before, I was just so pedantic … and stressed myself out over the smallest things. Those things really don't bother me anymore."
Once she overcomes the fatigue that still lingers after her treatment, Ms Bishop hopes to draw on her contacts in the entertainment and music industries to organise a benefit concert to raise money for blood cancer research.
