INSPIRE: Kojonup author June Williams writes You Have 6 Months about her journey with stage 4 lung cancer

June Williams has written a book called You Have 6 Months. It’s about her journey with Stage IV lung cancer and, she assures the Advertiser, it’s a positive tale even though she’s not sure how it’s going to end. A lover of thriller novels, the conclusion of this one is a cliffhanger. She has just turned 61 and already outlived the six-month prognosis, for it’s now four years since her world was turned upside down. “I left it there because I don’t know what the future holds,” she said. She finished it recently, while in a state the medics call “stable disease”, and feels relatively healthy. She says “relatively” because although she looks fit and well her medication has uncomfortable side effects, including numbness in her toes and uveitis, a nasty eye inflammation. “I’m also on high doses of steroids so I’m completely hyper,” she said. “My husband has told me I have to stop renovating.” Husband Steve has been a representative for WFI in Katanning since 1986 and the couple bought their Kojonup farm in 2007 where they run sheep and grow canola and wheat. As a non-smoker, Mrs Williams’ diagnosis came as a complete shock. She thought she had a persistent stitch until she collapsed and was flown from the farm to Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth. She was given chemotherapy and immunotherapy, which didn’t work and had huge side effects, so she started doing her own research and looking for a clinical trial. That she succeeded is testament to her tenacity and her stamina. “I thought I had found one, but I was devastated when I was told I didn’t meet the parameters,” she said. “Then I got a call in the middle of the night to say there was a genome trial in WA which I could join and that’s what I did. “If I’d continued with the chemo I would be dead because it was a really bad treatment for the cancer I had,” she said. “I didn’t want to be a whiny patient but I’ve found you have to be a squeaky wheel to get anywhere at all.” With a Federal election campaign in full swing, Mrs Williams’ is a topical case study for the debate on rural medical services. “When I collapsed there was no doctor in the local hospital and I was dealing with a paramedic over the phone,” she said. “Fortunately, the (Royal) Flying Doctor Service was fantastic but I’m not sure if people really understand how difficult it can be in a remote location.” The book came about because she wanted to help people who might be in a similar situation and to encourage them to speak up. “I want people to be an advocate for themselves, to ask questions and to keep asking questions,” she said. “I focused on getting on this trial and I know that if I had done nothing, just sat and wallowed, I wouldn’t be here.” Writing the book was easy, as she has always loved reading, starting with Enid Blyton as a child and moving on to the crime and mystery works of Anne Cleeves and Minette Walters. “I just vacillated between a biography or a cancer story but I knew I wanted it to be something someone could pick up in a waiting room or before a flight,” she said. “It’s about encouraging others to understand you can live with cancer and it doesn’t have to be a death sentence.” Part of her rationale was to put down for posterity how much her family and friends mean to her. “I wanted to put things in perspective,” she said. “I wanted to do it for family and friends so they could see what they have done for me. “They have been marvellous.” She may not know about the long term but the short term involves a trip to Hawaii and a European family cruise is at the planning stage. Her latest scan showed no change in her cancer from 2021 which she said had “shrunk and stabilised”. There may not be a cure but Mrs Williams shows you can live with it and write your own endings. The book can be found in hard copy at the Donnybooks and Gift store in Donnybrook, or online, with all proceeds going to the Council Council WA and the Perkins Institute.