Cassandra Thorburn: "I Have My Own Platform To Say My Truth"
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Yeah, like I'm it's not going to be how it was ten years ago. Um, and you know, b you know, people can get away with ri writing whatever they want about you. That's not happening to me. when I was diagnosed with cancer. No way.
For the best part of a decade, Cassandra Thorburn has been publicly known as One Thing. Karl Stefanovic's ex-wife. It was the headline when their 21-year marriage ended in 2016, and in one form or another, it has followed her ever since. But Cassandra was a journalist and television producer long before any of that, working across Australia, New Zealand and the US. In the years since her divorce, she's quietly rebuilt her life over and over again. A season of dancing with the stars, a children's book, a podcast about surviving separation, a stint as a dental nurse and aged care work through the pandemic. She is, by her own account, a Someone who has never really had a plan. She simply kept saying yes to the next opportunity.
Then at the beginning of this year Cassandra was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer, one so uncommon that fewer than 2% of Australian breast cancer cases look like hers. This time she decided she would be the one telling the story. She spent the months since documenting her treatment in unflinching detail on social media. And working with Breast Cancer Network Australia to help ensure other women don't miss what she nearly did. At times this was an emotionally charged interview. I asked some questions I knew you'd want the answers to. But which inevitably touched on a period of her life Cassandra was reluctant to revisit. Regular listeners will know that no filter conversations usually range across the entirety of a guest's life.
The past as well as the present. This conversation didn't quite follow that shape. But we've chosen to share it because what Cassandra is doing right now. Speaking so openly about a rare and frightening diagnosis matters. And because her story deserves to be heard. This is Cassandra Thorburn. Cassandra Thorburn. Welcome to Neufeld Ha.
Thank you. Thanks for having me, Kate. How are you?
Well I am well. The
question is, how are you? I'm actually really good too. So I've um I had um obviously cancer this year, um, and you know, put my kind of put my journey online. I'm not sure whether I meant to put my journey online. Um or to be as unfiltered as I was. I think I was just trying to present. being diagnosed with a rare cancer and not having many places to find any information and just wanting to share constantly what I found out along along the road. So that's kind of So you were d
you were diagnosed in
February? Y in late January I was diagnosed.
Who is Cassandra Thorburn beyond being Karl Stefanovic’s ex‑wife?
I started chemo nine days after my diagnosis. Um and so it was a pretty, you know, you get a bit of whiplash, sort of things happen very quickly. Um, but also being diagnosed with a a breast cancer that is so rare, it's under two percent of cases in Australia and under three percent worldwide. So that that was fairly confronting and there's not a lot of information about it.
Breast cancer is always confronting. Yes. And then you have like these degrees. the as you said, the whiplash of it, because I gather it wasn't detected by you. There wasn't a lump, there wasn't s soreness. In my
case, there wasn't anything about occult ni triple negative breast cancer and I couldn't have found it by examining my breasts, which I you know, like every woman I examine my breasts, but couldn't have
found it. How was that um that day? So you went for a routine screening
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:51
2
Who is Cassandra Thorburn beyond being Karl Stefanovic’s ex‑wife?
3:51–8:11
3
How was Cassandra’s rare breast cancer first discovered?
8:11–14:39
4
What did the initial scans and tests reveal about her diagnosis?
14:39–22:44
5
How did Cassandra decide to document her cancer journey on social media?
22:44–43:46
6
What impact did the diagnosis have on her role as a single mother?
43:46–45:50
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from No Filter
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