Home & Away’s Tessa James’ Cancer Battle ‘I Wanted To Die’

At the pinnacle of the toughest part of last year during her fight with cancer, she told Sunday Night ‘I had a panic attack and I remember calling my dad and just saying that I want to die. I don’t want to do this I can’t do it, I’m not strong enough this isn’t worth it.’

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Amazingly, Tessa’s father Steve was also undergoing treatment for non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma when his daughter was diagnosed and told Sunday Night that while it was hard to see his daughter suffering, that their cancer journeys brought them closer together. Steve said as difficult as that phone call was from his daughter his advice for Tessa about the disease and the chemotherapy was “we just said that we need to treat it as your friend, it’s there to make you feel better.”

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Along with the support of her father, Tessa had her husband Gold Coast Titans Co-captain Nate Miles, and mother Charis there for her every step of the way. The couple spoke of their hopes and chances for having a family after the chemotherapy with Tessa saying “I guess if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be”. The actress started treatment so quickly after her diagnosis that she had no time to freeze any of her eggs. “There are high stats of people my age having had treatment who have children, so I hope that is in the future for us”, she added.

While Tessa is now in remission following six months of treatment, she opened up emotionally about the darker days of the battle. She told Sunday Night. “I was a clean eating, healthy person, I’d never experienced that amount of drugs in my body…the drugs were making me depressed and anxious.”

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At the time of her diagnosis, a Seven spokeswoman said, “Tessa is a much valued and loved member of the Home & Away family, she has a wonderful approach to life. She has always been health conscious and is full of spirit.” Indeed, Tessa has shown this spirit in abundance after finishing treatment in February and come out in remission.

Tessa James is well known for her role in Home & Away and has also appeared in Channel Ten’s Neighbours and Channel Nine’s Love Child.