Prominent New Zealand psychologist Nigel Latta said he has been diagnosed with cancer and that he is “doing well” as he receives chemotherapy.
The 57-year-old author posted a video to social media this evening to announce the news. He said in an update he had received an initial terminal cancer prognosis — and had been given 12 months to live — prior to some important scans taking place.
“In reality I’m doing well and chemo is working,” he said.
“So I’m pretty sure I’m going to be around for quite some time.”
“About a month ago, I was having symptoms of what I thought was a peptic ulcer. I could eat hardly anything, feel really full and getting a really uncomfortable sort of full feeling in the back of my throat,” Latta explained towards the beginning of the video.
The TV personality said he went to his GP, who referred him to a gastroenterologist. An endoscopy was ordered, after which Latta remembered joking with his wife, clinical psychologist Dr Natalie Flynn.
“A nurse came in and said, ‘Right, your specialist will be in with you in a moment to discuss your results and your emergency MRI is booked for this afternoon’,” he said.
“Of those two bits of information the first bit caused me no alarm at all – that seemed perfectly reasonable. The second bit made me think, ‘Hang on a minute, back up the truck, why the emergency MRI?’ because those are never good, right?”
Latta said the specialist came in and showed him images of his insides, revealing “a large mass which looked like a tumour at the bottom of my stomach”.
“She said, ‘it’s probably cancer’. That was not a great moment ’cause these things happen to other people – that’s how most people think.”
He said he and his wife had been married for just six months.
The following day, Latta went to see a surgeon to discuss his options but was told it was inoperable.
“The tumour has spread out kind of too far through the stomach lining, and it’s also incurable just because of where it’s at.”
The results of his MRI also revealed “lymph node activity” on his throat, between his lungs, and around his stomach.
“There were a couple of suspicious little areas on the lungs and I think bits of the liver as well.”
Latta asked how long he had left to live and, after some pressing, the surgeon replied: “Six to 12 months.”
“I’ve been through some pretty traumatic things but that was probably the most traumatic thing – or one of the most traumatic things that I’ve been through,” he said.
“I just remember my brain feeling disconnected, like I’ve been slapped in the side of the cortex.”
He remembered standing outside feeling “completely and utterly paralysed”.
“It was a very strange feeling.”
After processing the news, Latta said he began making calls to “cancel work things and stuff like that”.
He said it “felt too hard to go home and be with the kids” so he and his wife went to a hotel, where “I ate lots of ice cream and we cried and that was that night”.
Latta went to see an oncologist the following day, who booked him in for IV infusions and chemotherapy.
“All of this felt strange because it felt like I’d just fallen off the side of the world.”
He has since undergone four rounds of chemotherapy, which he jokingly called a “fun old time”.
“It’s like taking a cheese grater to all the active cells in your body and so most of the time I just feel tired and sick, which is not a great time.”
The lymph node activity has since “cleared up” and the tumour has “reduced in size and activity by about 60%” following treatment, he said, “so it’s all tracking very well for me”.
A fifth round has been scheduled for Friday.
‘I didn’t choose to get this but I can choose how I respond’
The author and TV personality, 57, said chemotherapy is working and he is “doing well”. (Source: Other)
The Beyond the Darklands host said his diagnosis has led him to “really test things that I’ve been talking about” such as resilience, focusing on the things you can control, and the importance of teamwork.
“I didn’t choose to get this but I can choose how I respond to that and what I’ve chosen to do is just to be kind to the people around me and to do everything I can to make it easy for the people around me.”
Latta also praised the strength of his wife, who he called “the loveliest, kindest person” and “the centre of my world”.
“Sometimes it’s just really hard and sometimes you fall over a bit and it’s just nice having someone there who can gently catch you and reassure you.”
He admitted, however, that he was struggling with the idea of leaving her a widow.
“The idea of me dying, her grieving and being alone without me and me not being able to help her — I just can’t get my head around that.”
Latta called for for people battling gut cancer to visit the Gut Cancer Foundation’s website.
“It’s a good place to go for advice that you can really trust and I’m looking at doing some work with them to help promote what they’re doing ’cause there’s a lot that needs to be done.”
He concluded: “Bit of a downer – sorry about that but lots to be positive about.
“Here’s just one – one of the upsides of having cancer is that you don’t have to worry about having cancer.
“I don’t have to worry about getting cancer – do have to worry about dying from cancer so it kind of swings in roundabouts.”
Correction: After publishing, Nigel Latta clarified in his social media post that having 12 months to live was “an initial prognosis prior to some important scans” and that in reality he was receiving chemotherapy and is “doing well”. This story has been updated to reflect this.
