Trudi Johnston
Alumni Profiles
EX-PUPIL TRUDI JOHNSTON
‘Living With a Brain Tumour’
Inspirational Diary now published as a book
Our ex-pupil, Trudi Johnston had already fought a cancer battle by the time she attended St Kevin’s College from 1993 to 1997, following her two brothers Nathan and Ryan who were also pupils. While Trudi was at St Joseph’s School, she was diagnosed at 8 years old with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, and after 18 months of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, she was declared in remission.
Trudi enjoyed and treasured her years at SKC, and after graduating she attended Teachers’ College in Dunedin for three years and then moved with her parents to Christchurch.
In 2003 Trudi was accepted for Camp America and then she was planning to teach English in South Korea, but at the end of that year, she had to put all of these plans on hold when she got the devastating news that she had an incurable but treatable brain tumour.
Trudi was a hardworking and enthusiastic member of CanTeen, the teenage cancer patients’ society, and whilst Trudi was on chemotherapy for her brain tumour The Christchurch Star newspaper asked CanTeen Christchurch if one of their members on treatment would write a diary of their daily life battling cancer for six months. The Star invited The Oamaru Mail to publish Trudi’s diary too, seeing she was a hometown girl, born and bred in Oamaru.
Trudi immediately put her hand up, she saw it as the perfect opportunity to raise awareness of CanTeen and the great work the organisation did helping young people with cancer.
And so it started…….Trudi faithfully submitted her diary detailing her weekly life with its highs and lows, and always with her unique brand of humour. Her diary which she wrote for 20 months until she passed away, quickly produced a huge following, so much so that on the rare weeks when there was no column due to a setback in her battle with the brain tumour, people would ring up The ChCh Star and The Oamaru Mail very concerned about how Trudi was and why the diary wasn’t in the paper.
Now, all these years later her parents Jock & Pat have compiled all her diaries into a book, and have added many photos and some of Trudi’s poems. The printed book is now being sold online and already is receiving great reviews from the people who have read it. And Jock & Pat are donating all the net profit from the sale of the books to CanTeen, in honour of Trudi’s passion for the organisation and the tremendous work they do for teenage cancer patients.
If you are interested in reading Trudi’s story, go to the website and order your book at:
You will receive your copy within 3 to 5 days.
Or you can contact
Pat & Jock Johnston
101 Allison Crescent
KAIAPOI 7630
027 209 5040
Article added: Thursday 23 November 2023
