LIVING WITH MULTIPLE MYELOMA.
MOTHER OF 3 GENTS. LGBT+ COMMUNITY MEMBER. ENTREPRENEUR. CEO.
MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER. MENTOR. ATHLETE. AMATEUR ARTIST. INTP.
ABOUT ME
I was born and raised in regional Queensland. I attended a modest country town state primary school and high school. I'm the middle child to country bumpkin parents, with an older brother and younger sister. I lived on farmland until I was 17 and old enough to leave home.
I moved to Brisbane to attend university. Having received a national scholarship awarded to four people annually in recognition of academic, sporting, and cultural excellence, I was completely self-funded from the day I left my childhood home. I achieved honours degrees in engineering (bachelors) and applied finance (masters).
I have studied in France, interned in Canada, and worked in London. I've been a student practitioner in orthotics and prosthetics, a perfusionist in cardiac surgery, a German bonds futures trader, and an energy risk analyst and commercial procurement manager. For the past 17 years I have founded and grown my own energy management businesses, which collectively manage in excess of $1 billion in energy contracts.
I knew I was attracted to females early. I knew I was gay by 25. I came out when I was 29.
I am a mother to three boys, including twins. My ex-wife is a Danish woman whom I met whilst she was backpacking in Brisbane. We were engaged after two months and married for ten of our twelve years together. We remain close and proudly co-parent our gents cohesively.
I am a strong advocate for mental health, stemming from my ex-wife's ongoing anxiety and depression, and more recently following my own experiences following a relationship that challenged the very essence of who I am and what I stand for. I also have close friends and family who battle anxiety and depression.
I've played multiple sports and have been involved in track, cross country, soccer, and touch football at state and national levels. Most recently returning to touch football after a 20+ year hiatus, to be named in the Queensland Women's 40s team.
At 45 I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Multiple Myeloma. I live with the physical impacts, treatment challenges, and everything else this currently incurable blood cancer entails.
Most notably, those that know me say I'm the most genuine human you'll ever meet. An open book printed only in black and white.
Regardless of my INTP personality, I would love to hear from you.
WHAT DEFINES ME
Authentic. Unique. Honest. Selfless. Caring. Driven.
I live with Multiple Myeloma.
I am a mother, proud LGBT+ community member, entrepreneur, CEO, mentor, motivational speaker, athlete, amateur artist, and textbook INTP.
Children are much more than our DNA. They are the essence of our being. My children nourish my soul. They give me the reason to be better. To choose better. As a mother I get to provide my gents with the opportunity to develop qualities and to make choices that will set them up for a healthy and fulfilling life. Starting with choosing to be their authentic self and setting boundaries to ensure others don't adversely impact this.
Coming out is difficult. Hiding your true being from friends, family, and society in general, is soul destroying. Having fought my truth for a decade, I know attraction and one's preference for pleasure and inner peace is not a choice. Loving someone in an intimate sense is the most euphoric form of connection. It's the one gift we can never take for granted. Be proud to share your gift with the person who is right for you.
Founding a business from inception and committing to its growth and success can be as challenging as it is rewarding. As an entrepreneur my creativity and ideas run freely. As a businesswoman my strategic and logical brain run defence, letting only the most promising convert. As a CEO and mentor I choose to empower my people to achieve in their own right. I am not there to micromanage or dictate. I am there to facilitate success.
Motivation will get you started. Discipline will get you results. I train five times a week and eat to a calorie and macro plan, because that gets my body the results I like to see. It keeps me focussed, and happy. I play to an elite level because of the challenge. I thrive on competition and performance. Performing well feeds my soul. As do the friendships formed with likeminded people within these sporting communities.
Everyone requires an outlet that taps into their quieter, calmer, sensory side of being. I draw and paint for me. For the inner me that is in the ultimate state of relaxation as I navigate the paper or canvas. Sometimes it's about releasing the creativity. Sometimes it's about taking some down time. If meditation is designed to give you a sense of calm, peace and balance that can benefit both your emotional well-being and your overall health. Art is my meditation.
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Personality psychology is such a powerful tool to understand how and why we function the way you do. INTP's are often described as quiet and analytical. They enjoy time alone, thinking about how things work and deriving solutions to problems. INTPs have a rich inner world and would rather focus attention on internal thoughts rather than the external world. I am a textbook INTP. I am logical, objective, an abstract thinker, independent, and loyal to a fault.
My cancer does not define me.
It does however define how I get to, and choose to, live my life.
They say that myeloma warriors do not reach remission, but rather receive an intermission. A break between lines of treatment. Sometimes weeks, often months, and increasingly years without cancer markers or side effects that demand medical intervention.
Living with myeloma means that there are some things I should not or can not do anymore. Lifestyle tweaks to accommodate and address treatment, health concerns, and / or symptoms.
It means living with the dread of when the cancer will start winning the battle against each line of treatment, and eventually, all available treatments.
Mostly however, living with Myeloma means living with purpose. A constant reminder of all the things you should and can do every single day to make the most of this one precious life. To create memories and to build a legacy that survives you for generations to come.
