Julie Randall · 44 min
Given months to live with Stage 4 metastatic melanoma spread across multiple organs, Julie Randall refused every 'no', including a closed clinical trial, and became Patient 71, helping bring immunotherapy to Australia.
Hear this story
Julie Randall was 50 years old, fit, training for a state-level touch football tournament, and practising gratitude on her drive to work when something shifted. She couldn't find the words to speak. Within hours, she'd had a seizure at her workplace. Within days, she had a diagnosis: stage 4 metastatic melanoma spread across her brain, lungs, pancreas, liver, and lymph nodes. The doctor said chemotherapy would buy her three months, nothing more. When she told her daughters she had cancer, she made them a promise before she could think: she would not die.
That promise became her anchor. Chemotherapy wasn't going to save her, so Julie hunted for clinical trials overseas. For three and a half months, a trial in Portland, Oregon told her no. Not American. Not in their system. The trial was full. Then she read the Hippocratic Oath over the phone to someone at the drug company, and days later, they called her back. She became Patient 71, the 71st person accepted into an immunotherapy trial that taught her body's own immune system to fight the cancer. She stopped chemotherapy in secret to qualify. Her youngest daughter left her HSC and flew to Portland with her. Her husband tore himself apart flying between two countries and two daughters.
Nine months into treatment, with her marriage at breaking point and no more money to fly home, Julie's husband contacted the drug company and asked them to send the immunotherapy to Sydney. They did. Years of treatment followed. During menopause, lying in a hospital bed, Julie promised the universe she would write a book if she survived. She'd never been good at English, but she sat down and wrote 320 pages. On 60 Minutes, a PET scan showed she was cancer-free. The word cured became real.
“I just wouldn't let it take my spirit. I just wouldn't.”
“I'm going to fix this. I promise.”
“You have to be the one to do this for people that are following you. You have to be your own hero and then you have to be the hero that people are going to look up to.”
The hero, today
Julie made a promise to her daughters that she would not die, and that promise, though it terrified her in the moment she spoke it, became the thing that kept her tunnel vision steady through nine months overseas, family separation, and years of treatment. When chemotherapy was only going to buy her time and no more, Julie was willing to stop it in secret to get into a trial that might actually work, choosing short-term pain for long-term gain because she trusted her gut more than she trusted the voices telling her to play it safe. Julie called a clinical trial in Portland and heard 'no' for three and a half months straight until she read the Hippocratic Oath over the phone to someone at the drug company, and they accepted her as patient 71, because she would not let go. During treatment, Julie learned that the fearful voice in her head was not trying to hurt her but trying to keep her in her comfort zone, and once she knew that, she could have a conversation with it instead of being crushed by it. Julie promised the universe she would write a book if she survived, and even though she had been in the lowest class at English, she sat down and wrote 320 pages because the promise had left her with no choice. Julie's message to anyone facing a terminal diagnosis is not to wait until you are dying to start living your purpose, because we all have something different to give and peace comes when you are living it and sharing your talents.
Yes. Julie Randall is a real person who shared their own story in their own words. Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit that shares first-person stories of overcoming adversity, told with the person's consent.
Kintsugi Heroes, a registered Australian not-for-profit. Every story is shared with the hero's own consent and reviewed under Kintsugi Heroes' trauma-informed content standard before it goes public.
Julie made a promise to her daughters that she would not die, and that promise, though it terrified her in the moment she spoke it, became the thing that kept her tunnel vision steady through nine months overseas, family separation, and years of treatment.
When chemotherapy was only going to buy her time and no more, Julie was willing to stop it in secret to get into a trial that might actually work, choosing short-term pain for long-term gain because she trusted her gut more than she trusted the voices telling her to play it safe.
Julie called a clinical trial in Portland and heard 'no' for three and a half months straight until she read the Hippocratic Oath over the phone to someone at the drug company, and they accepted her as patient 71, because she would not let go.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 00:03
Welcome to the Grit Diaries with Mon and Maz, a place where we share real stories meets real transformation. Each episode, we share the journeys of everyday people who's faced life's hardest moments and found their way to hope, healing, and purpose. May their courage inspire you and in the world around you. Let's get inspired. In today's episode of The Grit Diaries, Mon and I have the absolute pleasure of sitting down in conversation with Julie Randall, also known as Patient 71. Over a decade ago, Julie was struck down by stage 4 metastatic melanoma. Facing overwhelming odds, Julie became what was known as Patient 71 in a cutting-edge clinical trial in the U.S., offering a single fragile thread of hope. What followed was a journey marked by determination and extraordinary courage. Julie not only fought for her own life but for the chance to rewrite what a prognosis like hers could mean for people that had the same diagnosis. In this interview, Julie shares a raw truth of what it's like to stare down a terminal diagnosis, to advocate for yourself when every door seems closed, and to discover the strength in the most unexpected places. Well, hello everyone and welcome to The Grit Diaries, another wonderful jam-packed episode that we've got coming at you today. And welcome, Mon! Thank you, Maz. Excited, can't wait to hear Julie Randall. This is going to be so exciting. Look, we have an absolutely beautiful guest today. Her name is Julie Randall. How are you, Julie?
Julie Randall (Guest) · 01:52
I'm very well, thank you. So Excited to be here.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 01:54
Well, we've been waiting to sit down and have a conversation with you for some time, so I'm so grateful that we're here today. And I know that you have so much to share with this incredible audience. Julie's is a story of resilience. She has gone through some pretty serious health challenges that we're going to unpack as we go. For any of you listeners and viewers that have dealt with a serious health crisis, this is one for you. Especially when you're wanting a dose of inspiration and hope when sometimes things feel like there's not much hope at all. So with that, to share a little bit about Julie. Julie is a mum of two gorgeous women now and is actually a grandmother. But at the time when about tracing back about 13 years ago, Julie was sideswiped with stage 4 melanoma. I'll let her share how she managed to get herself overseas and why she managed with all tenacity and determination, got herself overseas. She managed to get herself on a trial for immunotherapy. And this is a story that it is gut-wrenching but has clearly had a great outcome because Julie is with us. And came with, you know, a big price tag for her to do all that she did to really try everything that she humanly could to get well. Her book is called Patient 71. She's a keynote speaker. She's a coach and everything in between. So she featured on 60 Minutes. I think it's about 5 or 8 years ago, Julie.
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During treatment, Julie learned that the fearful voice in her head was not trying to hurt her but trying to keep her in her comfort zone, and once she knew that, she could have a conversation with it instead of being crushed by it.
This conversation includes a childhood without hardship, netball made her a fighter, a perfect morning before everything changes, the seizure in the foyer, tumors everywhere and i'm going to fix this.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 03:29
Yeah.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 03:30
Yeah. They did a segment on me.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 03:31
When I launched my book. Yeah.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 03:33
Yeah. It's really worth a watch for all of you to sort of go deeper into Julie's story. But with that, welcome and thank you for being here.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 03:40
Thank you. Yeah. I've been looking forward to this. Yeah.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 03:44
Asks.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 03:44
Yeah.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 03:45
We just want to start, Julie, with sort of giving us a bit of a background of, you know, what life was like, you know, growing up, and what were sort of some key things that were important to you as you grew up, you know, the good, the maybe some of the challenging things, but what's kind of helped shape your life as an adult and maybe affected, you know, what was happening when you were going through your challenge.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 04:07
I'm one of the extremely lucky ones. I had an amazing childhood. Grew up on the Northern Beaches, 5 kids and a dog. Mum and Dad and the grandmother, who was like our Alice from The Brady Bunch, lived with us. It was just— I mean, obviously, you know, we, we had our fights, and as families do, but it was an absolutely amazing upbringing. Very sporty. I come from a very sporty family. Yeah, I couldn't have asked for a better childhood. And I remember somebody saying something to me one day about being unhappy, and I kind of looked at them and I said, "Oh, I don't know how to be unhappy." You know, I only knew how to be happy. That's how I was brought up. Yeah.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 04:54
That's gold right there, isn't it?
Julie Randall (Guest) · 04:57
Yes and no. When the unhappiness and the hard stuff hits you, It really hits you. True, true.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 05:05
So not having to deal with, you know, sort of any kind of significant adversity as such.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 05:11
You know what, we didn't. The only thing I can remember— I can remember my father having an issue and having to go to hospital. It was something to do with his brain, but he recovered. And then the first hint of sadness or loss for us was my grandpa died when he was 80. Of a heart attack. And we were all fairly grown ourselves. I remember I was like 20 or maybe 21, and that's the first time that any kind of grief really hit me. I think that's, you know, I was very lucky.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 05:43
And Julie, you mentioned that you were very sporty, that sports was a big part of your life. Just touching on that, and we've just had a conversation with someone else that was actually very much into the sports world, and I'm just wondering what that's was for you growing up in terms of where that sat for you and in hindsight where that has helped you in your life.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 06:05
Yeah, a lot. In a nutshell, my mother was a netball coach and a high-level netball coach, and she kind of lived and breathed it. When I was little, really little, I used to go to all the netball carnivals and comps with her, and that was me. I knew that was going to be me. I strived to get into the under-10s rep netball team with Manly Warringah, and I did, and played reps. Might have missed out one or two years, but played reps right up until I was about 20 years old. And it was kind of win or die, so it wasn't— there was no purple participation ribbon for me. It was I'm winning this thing. And if I didn't, I couldn't sleep and couldn't wait to get back on the court to redeem myself. It did stand me in good stead for a challenge, let's put it that way.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 07:02
Yeah. And, you know, I think that if we can actually sort of fast forward and sort of go there a little bit earlier in the conversation, because there's so much in it and it's really worth spending that some significant time here. But how old were you? And tell us about that turning point and how you even came to discover that you have melanoma?
Julie Randall (Guest) · 07:23
Just a little bit of background, I was just about to turn 50 and was beside myself about that. Like, called it my 40th on the invitations because it was like, I'll just go on and I'll be 40, 11, 40, 12, and I'll just— that'll be it. I'll never get to 50. With hindsight, that was the absolute least of my worries, you know. And just to step back a bit too, I transitioned from netball to touch football in my early 20s, and then I lived and breathed touch football, and as did the rest of my siblings. So I was training for a state level, like a State of Origin over 45s touch football tournament. So I was fit, and I thought I was the fittest and healthiest I'd ever been. So I got over myself and the 50th thing, had the party, had a great time dancing till, you know, 5 in the morning. And a few days later, I was driving to work along the Wakehurst Parkway after going out on a massive run because I was training.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 08:37
Yeah.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 08:38
And I distinctly remember driving along practicing gratitude. Which is not something that I necessarily did on a regular basis, right? And I was thinking, oh, how lucky am I? It was a winter's day, but it was warm. Parkway was open. Bonus. Um, yeah. And I was thanking the universe for my dog and my kids and my home and you name it. Even the husband got a mention. Just to let you know what a good day it was. And I'm off to work and I'm having a lunch down by the Opera House this day and I'm thinking, how good is life? Like, and no sooner had I got to work, it was like, let's go, you know, we're off down to lunch. And I remember just taking in the sights and looking at the blue sky and looking at the Opera House and, and thinking, gosh, I'm going to have lunch, I'm going to go back, I'm going to go home, my weekend's going to start, because my weekend started on a Thursday. So go out for lunch, walk back up the street, go back into my office. I worked in the CBD. And in that moment, a work colleague said to me, what did you have for lunch? And I looked him in the eye and something really weird happened. And I said to him something like— no words, can't find the words— and in that split second, I knew I was in big trouble. Instinctively, I thought, you are in trouble, Julie, right here, right now. And he walked me over and sat me down on the couch in the foyer, and then I blacked out. And I woke up and my head was hanging down and the paramedics— like, I couldn't even open my eyes. And then when I did, the paramedics were just— I could see their boots and I could see they had uniforms on and they were saying, Julie, Julie, Julie, and I'm just staring. And then trying to ask me what day it was. And, and, um, it turns out I'd had a massive brain seizure. In the middle of my workplace, or in the foyer of my workplace, I guess, just out of the blue like that. We'd, you know, we'd had Chinese food for lunch, and the paramedics, you know, picked me up on the trolley. And as they were taking me out, I said, 'That's it, I'm never eating Chinese food again,' you know, trying to make light of it. These people were like— I'm looking at them in the background, and they've all got their jaws drop— all my work colleagues just like watching. So I made a joke, but you know, in my head I knew it was no joking matter.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 11:26
Yeah, you knew it wasn't the Chinese, it was something else.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 11:29
Exactly, exactly. So they take me to St Vincent's Hospital in emergency, and you know, I arrived there and then straight away obviously my husband had been alerted and my kids, and, and they all arrived and Scott's trying to tell me, you've had, you know, it's your birthday, you've just been partying too much. And, you know, and I'm like, yeah, yeah, right, doll. But I just knew it wasn't that. So 24 hours in an emergency, I mean, I'd been taken up to a ward and we had to wait. So that was a Thursday, this is a Friday, and I'm in, you know, in the hospital bed, Scott's sitting down at the foot of my bed. It was about 5:30. It's amazing how you remember distinctly, remember these things. And I saw them coming. And when I say I saw them coming, I saw a doctor in the middle of a couple of interns either side, and I just saw the look on their face, and I wanted to rewind them. You know, it was like a scene out of ER. They were going in slow motion, and I knew they were not coming to tell me good news. And they came and they stood at the foot of my bed and they said, Julie, you have tumors in your brain, both lungs, your pancreas, your liver, all of your lymph nodes. I'm sorry, this is not good news. With that, I had the hospital gown on. He's trying to talk and write out scripts and, you know, so I'm up out of the bed and I bolted to the lift and I was running for the hills. I didn't know where I was going. I didn't even know where the car was, obviously. And I just took off and Scott's picking up things and trying to grab scripts and he followed me. And we get down to the car and we get in the car, silence. On both our parts. And we're driving through the city, this is a Friday night, and one of my biggest memories was pulling up at some lights and watching people, you know, city workers hanging out of the bars, drinking beers, having fun, rehearsing for their weekend. And in my mind, I'm rehearsing how to tell my teenage daughters their mother was dying. And I'll never forget that as long as I live.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 14:01
Yeah.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 14:03
And we got home, everything felt different. My place wasn't the same, it didn't smell the same, it was just like a different place. And I didn't know what to do, so I went up to my bedroom and laid on my bed. And then I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. I knew by each child which one it was, and I'm going to get emotional because I always do. My eldest daughter walked in and I said, I'm really sorry, Morgan, I have cancer, and without telling her the gory details, and she just started wailing and she said, no, Mom, no, no. And then my other little one came up and just silently sobbed in my chest. And to see your children in pain like that, I just said, hey, I'm going to fix this. I'm not going to die, I promise. Boom. And then a little monster jumped in my head and said, are you going to do that? That's a big promise. And I'm like, Well, the words have come out now. My kids, you know, were brought up and I was brought up that if you made a promise, you kept it. So I was going to do everything in my power to keep that promise. And yeah, that started the ball rolling.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 15:32
Julie, I think that's the first time I think I've actually sort of teared up in conversations and really appreciate you being able to go—
Julie Randall (Guest) · 15:39
Thank you.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 15:40
Go in.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 15:41
It never gets easy. No, no.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 15:44
You know, I mean, it's devastating enough to get news like that, and also the delivery of that news in the way that it's delivered really affect us in a way of, you know, giving us a bit of determination and we can do this. And sometimes it can throw people the other way.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 15:59
Yeah, yeah.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 16:01
But I think then where I see what really impacted you was experiencing your children's reaction And in hindsight, I know you and I have had a few conversations. As you say, that those words just sort of fell out of your mouth, and how important those words were. I'm gonna fix this. And how that actually really helped to shape and be such a, almost a mantra in a sense for you doing everything that you did from here on in.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 16:34
It absolutely did. Yeah, in a split second those words were spoken and then it was, okay, here we go.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 16:41
Okay, so we're back with Julie Randall, known as Patient 71, published the book by that title, and her journey as she discovers that she had no idea but developed stage 4 melanoma, metastatic melanoma. So if we can just go back, you uttered the words to your girls, I'm going to fix this. And then what happened from that point onwards? Because I believe that there was a trial happening over in the US. I mean, I'm sure you probably explored what was available here as your treatment options. What led you to the US?
Julie Randall (Guest) · 17:18
Okay, so that was a little bit of a while. I went on chemotherapy. I, I really did not want to do that, but melanoma travels fast, really fast. You haven't got time to muck around. And I had to go on chemotherapy. That was only going to give me, I think it was something like a 10% chance of holding back the tide. It was never a cure. I knew it was never a cure. And I needed time. So I had to go on chemo and Lost my, you know, my hair, my, you know, everything, eyebrows, eyelashes. But it took a lot from me, but I just wouldn't let it take my spirit. I just wouldn't. So I went on the chemo and it did work for me. So, you know, I mean, I had a bit of luck along the way, I've got to say. And we went to the doctor's one day and just to check in. All the while I'm thinking this, you know, I know this isn't going to save me, you know, what am I going to do? So we go to the doctor and he— Scott says, I think Scott said to him, how long is this going to be working for, doc? And he's good Aussie blokey kind of way. And the doctor said, I'll put it this way, you know, I won't be working in 3 months, or let's say it was October or November, just like that.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 18:54
Wow.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 18:55
And I'm like looking down at— yeah, I'm just like looking down at the lino floor. I'll never forget it. And I said, well, if you think I'm gonna hang around and wait for that to happen, you've got another thing coming. You know, I think Scott was— he was forever apologizing for me as I left, walked out the door. Sorry about her. Anyway, we did say to him, oh, is there any trials, you know, is there anything happening overseas or anywhere? And he said, well, yeah, there's a few things going on. And Scott said, can you tip us in, Doc? And he said, no, you're on your own. Oh wow. Yeah, he said, oh, you know, there's, there's a few things happening, but basically you have to do that yourself. And it was like such a letdown. Like, the medical system's kind of, you know, let me down. So I was feisty, I was angry, I was crying and screaming and carrying on on the way home. But as soon as I got home, I just went into research mode, got on the computer, started looking up advanced metastatic melanoma. And after, you know, it took me a few hours— and oh, actually, before that, I just wanted to find someone who'd survived it. I thought, if I can just, you know, have a mentor and a hero. Yeah, yeah, just someone. And that's all I needed. And, uh, there was no one, no one at all, not a soul in the world that I could find. And turns out it probably wasn't, you know, they've— but, or there might have been one or two in America or on their way to, I don't know. So what became crystal clear to me was you have to be the one to do this for people that are following you. You have to be your own hero, and then you have to be the hero that people are going to look up to. You know, I don't know, I just— something took over me. I became quite philosophical and strong. And so then I came across this trial in Portland, Oregon, and it was a clinical trial working with the immune system, and it was only for basically stage 4 advanced melanoma patients that were going to die anyway, because they didn't want to be responsible for killing people that weren't going to die anyway, which I get. And so then I started my campaign to get into the trial and called them up, and they're a little bit bemused that this middle-aged Aussie woman was, you know, calling up.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 21:29
Yeah.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 21:30
And they sort of sounded semi-interested, and then I just for 3 and a half months, I just got no after no, setback after setback. No, you're not American. No, you're not in our medical system. No, what if you die here? And then the final clanger was, we're really sorry, the drug companies closed off the trial at 70 patients. And I just didn't let go. And I may or may not have read the Hippocratic Oath over the phone to somebody, and few days later I got a phone call and they basically said, what time would you like your appointment with Dr. Erber, who was the head? And I'm on— amazing, that is so cool story.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 22:20
What's the Hippocratic Oath for those who don't know?
Julie Randall (Guest) · 22:22
Okay, so the Hippocratic Oath in layman's terms is a an oath that doctors take to say, if I have something that can help you, or if I can help you, I am obliged to do so no matter what. No matter what, your race, your creed. And I'm like, I'm not dying because I'm not American. Sorry. Yeah, it's not a good enough reason. Yeah, love it. And, uh, so then it wasn't until I was over there that they said to me— they invited me out and then they said 'You do know your patient's 71, don't you? We were never supposed to accept you, and you just wouldn't let go.' You would, and they, they would openly say that. 'You just, yeah, wouldn't let go. You wouldn't give up.' Grit and resilience. I love it.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 23:11
I love it.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 23:12
Yeah.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 23:13
And I think, just to your point and what you're talking about there, for the listeners and the viewers, is whatever is happening in your life, whether it's something as intense as what you know, you've been going through, Julie, whether or not it's, you know, just in a work situation or you have a dream, a goal, or, you know, whatever it is, when it's something in you, it's part of the journey is having to wade through the nos, the nos, the nos, the fears, whether they're your own fears or they're fears of other people, what limitations other people have around what is really important to you. And it's Knowing that that is almost part of the journey. And, you know, by rights, what you managed to create, you know, it did take a lot of determination. And without your determination, without that key words that fumbled out of— just fell out of your mouth, "I'm gonna fix this," maybe without, you know, that, you know, in your sporting days, you know, it's win or lose. It's one or the other. We're not doing purple ribbons here.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 24:20
Yeah, yeah, you can see, yeah, you can see the linkage between the whole— Absolutely. And I mean, you literally have to take something that's really, really important to you as if it's life and death. Yeah. And manifest it, because if it's not, you're going to go, oh well. Yes. Yeah. Yep. So I mean, I've taken that now into the future as well. It's worked for me in a lot of ways. It's just like, oh, there's just no such thing as give up. And it, it's in my subconscious. It's always in my DNA now. Yes, yes. I can't— even if it's dragging me down, even if it's like everything's telling me just give this up, it's not happening at the moment, I can't. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's—
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 25:12
I think like we've talked about, it's almost like a little cork, you know, it gets pulled down, but eventually, you know, when that little desire, that dream, or whatever it is, you know, people are pursuing, it just bobs up. Yes. And it'll just annoy you until you actually do something with it, because it wants to be free and it wants to be doing what that thing does. And, you know, every time we pull it down, all it wants to do is just come back up.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 25:38
Yeah. Yeah.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 25:39
Well, let's go into this song, Live Like You're Dying.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 25:42
Yeah.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 25:43
Okay, well, welcome back everyone to the Grit Dose. We have wonderful Julie Randall here with myself and Mon., and we're hearing her story of how she beat stage 4 metastatic melanoma. Julie's just unpacked how she ended up being patient 71 on a trial in the US through sheer determination. So Julie, let us in on what was happening after that and what were some sort of key things that happened on that trajectory moving forwards from that moment.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 26:15
Okay, so That was like a bomb hit, even though I'd been asking for it and begging for it. It's like, gosh, I'm going now, you know, I've got to go. And I think I had, I don't know, a few weeks. But one of the stipulations was to give up the chemotherapy, right? So I was, I was still on it. They wanted out of my system that was in my system when I got there. They didn't want me. So I didn't tell anyone because people would have thought I was— to clarify, it was immunotherapy. Yeah, that I was going to. Yeah, that I was going over to. So it was immunotherapy, and I can explain a little bit more about that too. However, that— yes, so they made— they said you have to give up your chemo. So I pretend Oh, you pretended you were going? I pretended I was going. I pretended I was going to my whole family, my husband, but I wasn't going.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 27:18
To chemo?
Julie Randall (Guest) · 27:19
No. And so I think someone had dropped me off at the hospital or whatever, and I just go, thank you, and I'll catch the— get the bus home. I've always been really independent that way, and I really didn't want people watching me going through that either. So I'd already set that platform, so they didn't think it was weird that they weren't coming with me. And I know a lot of people, you know, would have thought I was, you know, BS crazy because this was keeping me alive right now. But I knew in my gut it was short-term pain for long-term gain. And I had to just do it, and I did it. And by the time I got to America, I had bumps and tumors coming out of my arms. And yeah, so, so I— we packed up to go, to come, and to go to America. And my eldest daughter was a dance teacher at the time, and she couldn't come, and she was only 19. I mean, that's young, right? We had to leave her. This is another thing. So we had to leave her on her own at home. Our, our baby was 16. She was doing a HSC, and she was— they were going to stay together. But the night before, she said, "I can't stay here without you, Mum," you know, "and Dad." So we went to Portland, Oregon. I don't think I've mentioned Portland, Oregon. That's where the clinical trial was. He was on one computer booking her flight to LA, and I was on the other computer booking her flight to Portland. She came with us the next day. Then I spent a lot of my time there calling her teachers in Australia and making sure she was getting the work done. Over my dead body was she not going to get her HSC because of me and my illness. So she came over for a few weeks, and I had to leave my other daughter, and it was just so hard. I can't tell you, but staying alive for them was more important than, than anything, and I'd promised that. So I just had to keep tunnel vision around that. And yeah, so I got over there and I went on the immunotherapy. So immunotherapy is a drug that sits on your T cells and teaches your immune system to fight the cancer. So the drug itself does not kill or fight the cancer, it teaches your body to fight the cancer, which is so amazing and miraculous. And to me, how much sense did that make? You know, it just made a lot of sense to me.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 30:25
I'm a nurse, Julie, and that is the best explanation. Thank you. And I think that the layperson can connect with that. So thank you. Yeah, that is— I understand.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 30:36
Yeah, pleasure. It was slow for me. You know, I wanted to get over there, I wanted to go and have an infusion, and then to go, bye-bye, see ya, you can go home now, everything's fine. That didn't happen. I had to stay for 6 weeks before I could even have a scan. And then when I had a scan, it was, your tumors have shrunk 0.00 something. And I'm like, but hey, they hadn't grown. And hey, we'd made some progress. So we were there for Total, I was there for about 9 or 10 months. In that time, my husband's flying back and forth trying to look after the girls, trying to run a business and look after me. It was just like chaotic. And then he'd come over to me and they'd be arguing in Australia, like I could sort out the argument from where I was. And I remember my little one saying, "You said you weren't going to take Dad back there." And It's like I wanted him to come back for when I was getting results, and, you know, so he was torn apart. And finally what we did was— this was a bit of another clandestine situation. The drug company doesn't know my name, right? I'm Patient 71. That's all I am.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 31:58
Yes.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 31:59
Scott managed to get a hold of a business card of someone from the drug company. Ah, so he started emailing them saying, you know, my wife is patient 71, that her name is, and she is a mother, and she is this, and she's that. Yeah, my doctor, who I suspect is retired now so I can say this, may have pushed the card towards my husband. Oh. Got into a lot of trouble. How did these people get our names? You're not supposed to get their names. But once he had said, my wife's a person, she's from Australia, she— they started the wheels in motion, sort of unbeknownst to us. And I flew home at one point. I flew home a couple of times unbeknownst to the doctors to see my kids. I wasn't allowed to, but I just turned up back in the chair for the next Oh, what did you do in the last week? Oh, nothing much, nothing much.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 33:05
I think you should be called Julie Rover, not Randall. Julie Rover. Julie Rover under the radar.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 33:12
Yeah. So this time we came home and it was, it had been going on for a long time and I was really, really over it, but I had to keep going. My doctor said I had to keep going. And this one morning, my husband, he got up to go to work and he's, I'm booking your flight back to America today. And at this point, no more money. He can't come back. I can't come back home. This is it. I gotta go. And I'm like, I'm not going. I'm not going. And he's like, you're going. I'm booking your flight. And I remember, you know, running downstairs and as he walked out the door, I just hurled something at the door. Like I was really, really angry. And he's like, you're going, you know, you've got to go. And I knew I had to go.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 33:58
Yeah.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 33:58
Then I flicked on the kettle, as you do, and then I opened my computer and there was an email there and it says, hello, Julie, your next infusion of nivolumab is at the Mater Hospital at Crow's Nest in Sydney. And so he had got through to whoever he had to get through to, and I came home, the drug came home. Yeah, so I was on the drug for a long time here. Wow, probably 4 or 5 years. And then during the chemo days when I was lying in bed and I went into menopause, I was on some sort of breast cancer drug mixed with something else that threw me into menopause. I wasn't told about it. And so I'm sweating and carrying on, and I started examining, you know, my life so far. And I was like, if I'm to leave this planet soon, have I lived my best life? Have I lived to my full potential? Have I explored my talents? And have I given enough to the world? Have I given— and it was so reflective. And then I just said, hey, Mrs. Universe, if you get me through this, if we get through this together, I promise I will live to my potential. I will write a book. Never even good at— was in the lowest class at English. I will write a book. I will get on stage. I will inspire people. I will— I don't care how many people are in the room, you know, all of this stuff. And I made another bunch of promises, right? So after coming home from America and not relaxing because I couldn't relax and my life was never going to be the same. I tried to live the same life for a while. Wasn't going to be the same. And then this voice was, you know, started popping into my head on a daily basis. Hey, remember you promised that if you got through this and you came home, you wrote a book? And I'm like, yeah, but you know, only joking. You know, I can't write a book, you know. It's like, no, you promised. So, love it. Yeah, so I had no choice. Wow. Yeah, so one day I just sat down and I wrote out the date that it started. It was Thursday, the 21st of June, 2012. Boom. And on I went and on and on and on, 320 pages. And, you know, it felt like home. I'd never written a thing in my life, and I just loved it. It just felt like, this is what you're supposed to be doing, girl.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 37:11
Did it feel cathartic as you were writing it to kind of just put it all into one space and actually—
Julie Randall (Guest) · 37:17
Oh, it did, yeah. Yep. There are a lot of tears. You know, I did keep, like, a journal of sorts when I was going through it, more like points and things that had happened, and it, it just flowed. And I remember getting to chapter 20, and I wasn't in Portland yet. I hadn't even arrived in Portland, but all those things prior to that were important to be said, you know, they had to be said. And yeah. All the while the voices in my head saying, no one's going to read this, people, you know, all of those things that you get when you lift out of your comfort zone. And I'm like, you know, but by that stage, interestingly, I was awake up to those voices because when I was about, you know, going to go to America, I had all, you know, the voices were saying, but hang on, what if you die over there? You know, what if you spend your last few months over there and you're not going to be with your children? And I would cry, you know, I would cry when I would hear that voice saying that. But then I sort of realized that, yeah, your voice is just trying to keep you in your comfort zone. And it doesn't know any better. It's a prehistoric voice, you know. And so then I learned to dance with that voice. So I call it dancing with the monsters and go, oh, hang on, okay, I know you're trying to keep me safe, but I really need to go and do that so I can come back. And it's sort of a way of just quietening down that voice when you just come back and explain and have a little conversation with it. It's a bit weird, but I'm a Gemini and I talk to myself anyway.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 39:04
So, and I love that you point that out. And I know Sim has a name for hers, the one that's sort of hippo, that it can be crushing. We've talked, yeah, they're all types and And, you know, I think you are the epitome of someone that has a lot at stake if you chose to go into the fear voice and that was the one that won.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 39:25
Yes. There was a lot at stake.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 39:27
It wasn't like, oh, well, I'll just miss a business opportunity or I'll, I'll maybe, I don't know, not get the job or I might not go to the gym or something like that. You have a lot at stake. My gosh, there is so much more that I would absolutely love to be here and unpack more. And I think, you know, we've gratefully already heard some of your incredible nuggets of wisdom. Is there anything that you would really want the viewers to really take home from your journey? I just really want to point out that you are the one that now everybody points to as the one that survived. Thankfully, because of you, if I understand correctly, you doing what you did was instrumental in getting immunotherapy out here a bit earlier than maybe it would have.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 40:13
Yeah, I'm really careful about claiming anything around that.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 40:16
Yep.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 40:17
It would have always, you know, come to the shores, but yeah, maybe.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 40:22
Yes.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 40:24
Yeah.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 40:24
Yeah. So we certainly have a lot of people in our world that are going through stage 4 melanoma that are going through immunotherapy. And I know that you're an absolute inspiration to those as well. So a quick question. When did you actually find out that because it was metastatic, it was in through all the different organs of your body? Oh, you get a PET scan that kind of showed up that would—
Julie Randall (Guest) · 40:48
well, they, they knew from all the scans in hospital. I knew from the get-go that whatever I had— so I didn't know it was melanoma then, right? Because I only knew it was cancer, and it was a couple of weeks before I, I found out it was, it was melanoma. But yeah, and then it wasn't until I was on 60 Minutes that I actually got the PET scan that showed that I was all clear, that I was, you know, cured. The big C word.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 41:23
Yeah, amazing.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 41:25
Wow. So I think just yet a final note, my message for people would, you know, is what we've discussed today. It's, you know, don't wait till you're dying to start living. Truly living, exploring your purpose. Some people's per— I believe we all have one. 8.2 billion of us on the planet, we're all completely different, different DNA, different fingerprints. We've all got something to give, some bigger than others that have bigger voices in their head to do more than others. But I think peace is when peace comes when you are living your purpose and sharing your God-given talents. And yeah, beautiful people happy.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 42:13
Yep, amazing. Wow, thank you so much, Julie. Uh, Mom, was there anything else that you'd like to add before we wrap up and finish with the song? Julie, thank you so much for your time. You definitely should be called the Roving Randall with your— just your sense of commitment to what you say you're going to do, you do.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 42:34
Yeah.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 42:34
If you are out there listening and you have been given a really tough diagnosis, it's just lovely to hear your mindset around it. And you're here today, you know what, 13 years later, and you're a grandmother now. So you've seen so much more of your life because of your resilience and, you know, your strength and tenacity. So yeah, it's so lovely to hear your story. And yeah, just thank you so much for your time on Grit Diaries.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 43:02
Thank you. My pleasure. Yes.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 43:05
Beautiful. Julie, thank you so much. There'll be lots of notes there in the show notes if you want to purchase Julie's book, see her on 60 Minutes, and connect with her. Fabulous. Okay. Wonderful. Thank you, Julie.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 43:18
Thank you. Thanks for having me. Bye.
Mon & Mazz (Host) · 43:24
Thank you for joining us on the Grit Diaries from Grit Grit to Grace. If today's story has moved you, share it with someone who needs a little hope. Remember, from grit we can find grace, and from grace we can find inspiration. Until next time, look for the joy, keep safe, stay grounded, and never forget that there is a strength within your own story.
Julie Randall (Guest) · 43:50
Take care.
You don't have to be in crisis to call.
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