Seventeen years ago Mandy Evans was undergoing treatment for Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Today she is leading a campaign team pulling together this country’s largest annual street appeal to raise funds to support the 1 in 3 New Zealanders who will receive a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime.
Mandy feels honoured to have stepped into the Campaign Lead role for the Cancer Society’s Daffodil Day 2025 and is most definitely “up” for the challenge.
“My friends always say, 'Do you want to…' and I'll go ‘YEP’ and they'll say, 'but I haven't said what yet!' and I'll say ‘I don't care. I’m up for anything.’
“My mindset is very much that I never thought I'd be here today, so getting every extra day I'm always up for anything. I enjoy life and I love being busy.”
Mandy, who has a background in nursing, midwifery, volunteering and fundraising, was the operations lead for last year’s Daffodil Day.
She says the “1 in 3” campaign messaging touches her deeply, having not only been that one in three, but having also seen her mother go through bowel cancer about 10 years ago.
Mandy’s cancer journey
Mandy’s own cancer story starts with an itch.
The family – her husband Tim and two daughters who were toddlers at the time – were living at the Ohakea military air base where Tim was stationed with the NZ Defence Force.
“Tim had done a staff course for 8 months so he was coming from Wellington to Ohakea every weekend. I started getting an itch all over my body and I remember Tim would come home at the weekend and I'd spend all night asking him to scratch my back.
“That went on for 18 months. I scratched the buggery out of my skin and my nails were black from all the dead skin underneath them.”
Mandy said she was going repeatedly to the doctor and “to anyone who would listen” to her, including dermatologists.
It was when Mandy developed a cough that wouldn’t go away that she finally got a chest X-ray that an 8x8cm tumour was discovered in her chest.
“I remember the way the radiologists talked to each other over me and questioned me I knew that something was really wrong. So that night I went home and I had 16 people coming around for a Tupperware party at Ohakea and I put on my big smile and I pretended nothing was wrong. I held that party and got a lot of free Tupperware and the next day I had a CT scan and that's when it all unfolded.”
Initially thought to be a thymoma tumour, Mandy had open-chest surgery in Wellington with the aim of removing it – but a biopsy was taken, which revealed Mandy had Non-Hodgkin lymphoma which required a different treatment. She says her first reaction to her cancer diagnosis was “relief”.
“I was actually really relieved. And I know that sounds crazy because who wants to be told they've got cancer? But I was living a life of hell. I just couldn’t live with being itchy all the time. I wasn’t sleeping. I felt like I was a terrible mother because I was so irritable from lack of sleep. The diagnosis meant that I was going to get better and I could get rid of the itch.”
While the itch disappeared with the first dose of chemotherapy, the treatment didn’t work as planned on reducing the tumour.
“The only other option was to have a stem cell transplant. So, they shook all my stem cells out of me, nuked me to the end of my life really and then put the stem cells back in and gave me radiation after that. And ever since then I've progressed to be stronger and stronger, and healthier and healthier and it's now been 16 years.”
Reflections
When reflecting on her experience Mandy says it proves to her the importance of the Cancer Society’s commitment to and investment into cancer research.
“My last resort was the stem cell treatment, so if they hadn’t done the research that led to that I wouldn’t be here, so research and medical advancement is so important.”
Mandy also counts herself very lucky she had an abundance of support around her when she was ill.
“You find out who your friends are. I found out that I had so many amazing friends from all walks of life. I never used the Cancer Society services because I had such amazing support. I was one of the lucky ones. I had friends bending over backwards to help. But I was aware that they were there if I needed them.”
Mandy has a memento from her stays in hospital that is beautifully symbolic of the support she received and the wraparound support she now wishes for all those going through a cancer journey.
Her mother and sisters cut up bits of fabric and sent these to Mandy’s friends with fabric markers to write messages on and courier bags to return them. Her mother then stitched these together into a quilt she had with her.
“All those messages were with me on my bed. I’ve still got it. It is an absolute treasure.”
This Daffodil Day, please consider making a donation to help the Cancer Society continue providing vital care and support to New Zealanders affected by cancer.
