Sam and Kate Twigg have opened O-Studio Wellington, a wellness centre offering saunas, ice baths, red light therapy, guided meditations and more. Photo / Mel Waite Photography
When Kate Twigg was having treatment for breast cancer, she never thought it would lead to a second cancer diagnosis.
“It hits you like a ton of bricks, that initial diagnosis. Nothing prepares you for it at all,” she tells the Herald.
In 2021, she was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer - a rare and aggressive form of the disease.
Twigg, a trained primary school teacher and mum-of-two, underwent chemotherapy, surgery and radiation.
But just two months after she finished her treatment, she was diagnosed with leukaemia, which came about as a side effect of the chemotherapy, and needed to have a stem cell transplant.
“They wipe out your whole system to put the donor system into your immune system. And it was full on,” she recalls.
“I was in hospital for about four months after my stem cell transplant. It’s really brutal - you get lots of different infections just from nowhere... because your system is so low until it starts to build up with the donor’s immune system.
“I’d never wish it upon anybody to have to go through this to where I am, but I do thank cancer every day, because I wouldn’t be where I am today [otherwise].”
Now 45, Twigg doesn’t remember the exact date of her initial diagnosis - which is something of a conscious choice.
“I choose not to celebrate [cancer milestones]. I’m just like, that was that and this is what I had to do to get through it. I did that really well, and now I can focus on the life that we’re leading.”
During treatment, Twigg experienced multiple setbacks and time away from her family - especially since she was being treated for leukaemia during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I’d get out of hospital and I’d be so excited to see my kids, and then one of them would get Covid and I couldn’t go home,” she recalls.
“I’ve got pictures of me in a wheelchair outside a window watching them put up the Christmas tree. I couldn’t go inside because one of them was slightly sick. So there were lots of setbacks and drawbacks.”
Prior to her diagnosis, Twigg says, “I would never have done meditation or breathwork”, but she credits both for helping her get through the gruelling treatment.
“When I was first diagnosed with breast cancer, my sister said to me, ‘I’ve got a friend who does breathwork. You should try it’. And I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll try anything at this point’.”
Twigg admits when she was diagnosed, her first thought was “‘I’m not going to [be able to] drink alcohol’”.
“So, alongside the whole cancer journey was the alcohol one as well... I had to find something else, because I’d relied on alcohol for so long. I’d relied on just shoving it down, [thinking] ‘everything’s all right, you’ll be fine, just carry on’.
“So when I used [breathwork and meditation] during my cancer treatment, I was like, ‘Oh, hang on a minute - I should have been doing this the whole time’.”
These days, Twigg no longer drinks alcohol and still meditates twice a day.
“If I don’t, I notice a real difference in myself. I’ve got ADHD, and my days are calmer, clearer, more focused when I do all of those things.”
As a mum of two teenage girls, Twigg now hopes to teach them that “health is the most important thing”.
“Without that - and they can see that from where I was - you’ve really got nothing. Slowing down and having that regulated nervous system is the key and the missing piece of the puzzle to staying well.”
Twigg bought a sauna during her treatment and suggested to her husband they could start a business.
“At that time he was like, ‘No, I don’t think anyone would come’,” she laughs.
Ultimately though, he saw her point, and the Twiggs now own wellness centre O-Studio Wellington, part of the franchise founded by former Māori All Black and Canterbury Crusader Tim Bateman. He developed his own interest in the wellness industry after his wife was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2013 and underwent a stem-cell transplant in Singapore.
“I Googled wellness businesses, O-Studio popped up, and I gave Tim a call. We spoke for about 45 minutes and it just kind of felt right - it sort of snowballed from there,” Twigg says.
At the time of writing, the Wellington location had been open for just three weeks, having taken two years to complete.
“We’ve had over 600 people through in the first two weeks we were open.”
The wellness studio offers dry and wet flotation, saunas, ice baths, red light therapy, guided meditation and breathwork sessions.
She says a lot of people come in to try one thing, whether it’s a float or sauna, and end up coming back to try more. Twigg says it shows what we’re missing when it comes to our wellbeing.
“We go to the gym, we eat well, we do all the things that are good for us, drink lots of water - but we are terrible at sitting still and regulating our nervous system,” she says.
“We were told early on that busyness meant that you were achieving, and you were doing really well - the busier you were, the bigger and better you were.
“I think people are slowly realising that if we don’t create that stillness in our life, then we’re going to end up with all sorts of chronic issues.”
Her message to others is “don’t wait for burnout” to start thinking about wellness.
“Don’t wait till you get cancer or some chronic illness. Just start to do these things daily in your life.”
Bethany Reitsma is a lifestyle writer who has been with the NZ Herald since 2019. She specialises in all things health and wellbeing and is passionate about telling Kiwis’ real-life stories.