Celebrate your milestones
For Evelyn Aispurua, the last five years have brought indescribable pain and heartache. She’s faced a cancer diagnosis, the death of her father, long periods separated from her young daughter, and the end of her marriage.
Despite these challenges, Evelyn’s positivity is unwavering. Spurred on by her own struggles, she’s passionate about supporting others as they go through difficult times. “I assist people to connect to a moment of peace within themselves,” she says. “I use different tools like aromatherapy, massage and sound healing to help them connect to their five senses.”
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic was taking hold around the world and Evelyn was living in Bali with her family, helping stranded Argentinians to get home in the middle of a strict lockdown. She was extremely stressed.
“I started having these pains, these aches in my legs that were very weird, until one day I almost couldn’t walk,” she recalls.
She went to see her doctor and was referred to a rheumatologist, who diagnosed her with rheumatic fever. “He gave me pills, I took them, and some of the symptoms went down – until I started haemorrhaging…”
Evelyn returned to her GP and was referred to another specialist. “I actually found out about my diagnosis by the GP sending me a photo of a letter to take with me to the hospital, saying ‘possible leukaemia’. I was like, ‘What the hell!?’”
Further tests at the hospital confirmed she had acute myeloid leukaemia. She needed treatment urgently, but was told it would be a huge out-of-pocket expense in Bali and that treatment was much more advanced back in New Zealand.
She was urged to get home to New Zealand as soon as possible so she could begin treatment in the public health system.
Just seven days after receiving her diagnosis, she was on a plane to Auckland with her husband and five-year-old daughter. From the airport, it was straight to Auckland Hospital, where she was started on chemotherapy and kept in complete isolation for the first 15 days due to arriving from overseas. “I had a security guard outside my door 24/7 so that they could make sure I didn’t come out and compromise anyone else.”
Evelyn’s treatment went on for months, and even when COVID restrictions eased, she was told her daughter was too young to visit her in the ward.
Finally, after six months, Evelyn was discharged from the hospital. Thrilled to be reunited with her husband and daughter, they packed up the car and headed off on a road trip together. She remembers this period fondly.
“Then, just nine months after my first treatment, I relapsed.”
Evelyn knew she would need a stem cell transplant this time. Her doctor encouraged her to start back on treatment straight away, but she was hesitant to begin chemotherapy before having a donor lined up. It was agreed that she could stay out of the hospital for the time being, under the condition that she be closely monitored.
Having bought herself some time, she did her best to help find a suitable donor.
“I made a video, and I shared it with the Latin community. We had hundreds of people trying to give blood to see if they were a match with me.”
In the end, Evelyn’s mother flew over from Argentina to be her donor. Evelyn says the transplant process was tough – she was often in severe pain, and again she found herself all alone in a hospital room. “I spent a lot of time isolated throughout all that time,” she says. “Again, my daughter couldn’t come in. I spent New Years and my birthday inside.”
Evelyn used breathing techniques, meditation and colouring in special designs to help her cope. Unfortunately, the side effects didn’t end once she was returned home from the hospital.
“I ended up having graft versus host disease. So for almost two years, I’ve been battling with that. And because the transplant erases your immune system and your vaccines, I ended up getting chicken pox.”
Throughout everything, Evelyn has been blown away by the incredible support she’s received both in and out of the hospital.
“Annette from LBC is amazing. Since I came back to Auckland in December, she’s been calling me, reaching out, sending emails, asking how I am, how she can help.”
Once Evelyn felt strong enough, she started going along to Annette’s support groups, as well. “They’re all about how we can assist each other. We just go in and talk, express ourselves, and not hold anything back. It’s nice to relate to people who understand.”
After spending much of her life in the hospital over the past several years, Evelyn has now done something amazing to benefit other cancer patients going through a similar journey. “There’s this thing in the US and other places where people celebrate with a bell once they finish their treatment and are in remission. I wanted to introduce that here.”
“When you’re lying down in your hospital bed and you cannot move or you’re just feeling miserable, hearing that someone else is celebrating – no matter what they are celebrating, maybe they’ve finished treatment, maybe they got their neutrophils up and they can get out of hospital – it would make me feel joyful. Because if they can do it, I can do it.”
In April, Evelyn was thrilled to be given the go-ahead to install the bell at Auckland Hospital’s day stay unit.
“A normal bell wasn’t enough – so it’s a handmade ceremony bell from Nepal. They’re going to place it at the entrance, at the front desk. I’m going to put a little sign on it, saying ‘Celebrate your milestones’.”
