This isn’t the first time Barry Dubois, host of the Australian cooking show, Living Room, has had cancer. Seven years ago, he was diagnosed with plasmacytoma myeloma. It was different the first time though. He says he would have been at peace with it, since he had a wonderful life. That was all before he had kids.
Five years ago, Barry became a father to twins, Bennet and Arabella. It took so long for he and his wife to get there– they tried IVF, suffered through 13 miscarriages, spent years on the adoption waiting lists, tried surrogates, tried everything. Finally, they had not one, but two children, and it seemed like their dreams were coming true– until Barry was diagnosed with cancer. He’s angry that this could be taken away from him. This time he has multiple myeloma. He has more than 100 tumors in his body, 28 of which are pretty big, but he insists he’s not going anywhere.
Multiple myeloma is a rare cancer that occurs in plasma cells, a type of white blood cell. The cancerous cells crowd the healthy cells out of the bone marrow. Click here to learn more about this rare form of cancer.
He explained his struggle on Osher Günsberg’s podcast, made an announcement on his TV show, and and has come out with a public Instagram post. While he doesn’t mind sharing his battle with the public, there are two small people he doesn’t have the heart to tell.
“How do you explain to a five-year-old who thinks that Peppa Pig is a real person that Daddy is going through something really bad?”
Still, Barry’s facing the diagnosis with optimism. He will soon undergo a fourth round of chemotherapy, and then is scheduled for a bone marrow transplant. He’s not new to cancer. Besides his own battle, he lost his mother to the disease 13 years ago, and the next year his wife faced cancer too.
Barry is determined to beat multiple myeloma, and finds strength in the support from all the people who love him.
To read more about this in Now To Love, click here.
