Johnson is also of the firm belief that the age for screenings should be lowered.
The mother of three and grandmother of two used to own a salon in the Whangārei suburb of Tikipunga, until she sold it during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Johnson also lost her son to suicide in 2021 and began to experience fatigue – something she put down to grief.
But in 2022, she started to notice other changes, such as tummy pains and altered bowel movements.
She was left to manage extreme pain, unrelenting diarrhoea and other issues – but doctors remained convinced that she was suffering from haemorrhoids.
Johnson said the pain was so bad that she couldn’t sit down or sleep, and she also went to the emergency department twice but it was not further investigated.
It wasn’t until a random visit to White Cross to manage her pain brought her an internal examination and a doctor concluded that she needed a scope – urgently.
A colonoscopy raised suspicions until an MRI confirmed the fear – it was cancer, which had also metastasised to her liver and lungs.
“I didn’t tell anybody, it was [happening while] my dad passing away and I wanted it to be about my dad and not about me,” Johnson said.
Doctors believed that she had suffered with it for at least two years before it was caught, years that Johnson excused fatigue as trauma from the grief of losing her son.
Johnson believes that had she been examined earlier, she may not be in the position she now finds herself in.
“It was about nine months that I was in pain and actively going to the doctors,” she said.
To make matters worse, she is now having to manage a phobia of chemotherapy, which has set back her recovery.
Her second chemotherapy appointment resulted in a traumatic extravasation – where the treatment went into her tissue, rather than the vein.
She was not examined after the incident and sent home, despite not being able to talk properly and experiencing hallucinations.
“I don’t remember going home. I don’t remember five days of my life,” she said.
Johnson ended up in hospice for over a week while recovering from the incident.
She managed to get her pain under control, however, her weight dropped to a mere 46 kgs.
Johnson was then given a bowel bag, which she has described as a “game-changer”.
But it was still months of recovery from that when she could have been doing chemo – something she continuously avoided, despite encouragement from medical professionals.
“I didn’t realise how afraid I was of that [incident] happening again,” she said.
“I took five months off chemo, which was a bit naughty, but it wasn’t until sitting with a friend who’s a nurse that she said “I think you’ve got a phobia”.”
She has finally restarted chemotherapy with a new drug called Avastin, which is not currently funded but helps with shrinkage and spreading.
It takes approximately three hours per session through a surgically placed port in her chest.
Johnson says cancer is like having a fulltime job.
“There’s always an appointment. There’s always a blood test, and then you have your hospice nurse call you. It’s pretty busy.”
But she’s holding on and determined to fight for not just time, but healing.
“I’m positive and I’m fighting to have as many days and years as possible,” she said.
“It’s just positive thinking and [hoping] for any miracle cure that comes along the way.”
Johnson said many people are diagnosed with stage four cancer but survive – something she is determined to achieve.
She encourages every New Zealander to get good health insurance and listen to their body.
If something feels wrong, keep pushing, she said.
“You are the best doctor of your body.”
You can donate to Brenda’s Givealittle at this link.
Brodie Stone is an education and general news reporter at the Northern Advocate. Brodie has spent most of her life in Whangārei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.
