Photography: Babiche Martens
The last time Woman’s Weekly caught up with Lorna Riley in December 2024, she had just become engaged to Mike Wake after a whirlwind romance and was finally about to get the double mastectomy she’d been dreading.
It was a decision that should have signalled the end of several gruelling years of medical issues after two breast cancer diagnoses – but instead, it was the start of another devastating health journey for the popular Coast FM daytime host.
“I have the BRCA2 gene, so I’d decided to get a double mastectomy and implants, but I’d been putting the surgery off as I was pretty sick of the whole thing. Also, it cost $62,000 as it’s considered an ‘elective surgery’ and my insurance only covered $40,000,” says Lorna, 58, who credits fiancé Mike, 57, and her parents Gavin, 90, and Doreen, 87, for helping her fund the procedure.
“It needed to be done though, so Mike and I had our engagement party on February 10, 2025 and I had the surgery four days later on Valentine’s Day.”
Initially, it seemed the operation had gone well.
“I felt great at first, but the wound in my right breast, which was the one that was radiated first 11 years ago, just wouldn’t heal,” she tells.
“About four weeks after the surgery, I remember driving to work and feeling so tired and ill – I had chills, a fever and a headache. I got through my show somehow, then went to A&E, where I was immediately admitted for emergency surgery.”
A long road to recovery
Doctors removed the implant from her infected right breast, but the issue persisted.
“Over the following months, I had multiple PICO dressings – little surgical battery packs that help with healing. Then when that didn’t work, they gave me a sort of supersized PICO – a big, noisy, handbag-sized box that I had to carry around 24/7. That wasn’t ideal for a radio host – I’d put it on the ground and cover it with jumpers to try to muffle the sound.”
When that treatment didn’t work either, Lorna went under the knife again last September.
“The surgeon did a sort of patchwork quilt thing with the skin and tissue,” she says.
“It didn’t look pretty, but it did the trick. I still only had one breast, but it wasn’t infected any more.”
By December – 10 months after the initial surgery – Lorna was finally well enough to be fitted for a prosthesis to make her breasts look even.
“I went to see a wonderful lady at ABC Breast Care called Trudy and we talked about the next steps,” tells Lorna.
“I’d been thinking I might get a reconstruction on my right, so I’d have two breasts that looked normal, but Trudy explained that implants and reconstructions don’t behave the same way. “A reconstruction from your own tissue will shrink and grow as you put on or lose weight, while an implant doesn’t – so if you have one of each, you’ll end up with mismatched breasts.”
When enough was enough
Armed with this knowledge, Lorna opted to keep things as they were, with one breast and a prosthetic bra.
“My appetite for surgery was wearing pretty thin at that stage, so I thought, ‘Right, decision made.’”
But her medical issues were far from over and, in early 2026, Lorna began experiencing problems with her left implant.
“It felt like I had a rock on my chest – it wasn’t malleable the way breast implants should be. My surgeon explained that I had ‘capsular contracture’, where the normal scar tissue tightens, hardens and squeezes around the implant. It was really unpleasant, so on my surgeon’s advice, I decided I’d have that implant removed too.”
Her breast surgeon offered the option of a double reconstruction using belly fat and skin – “let’s face it, there’s plenty there to reconstruct a couple of breasts from!” she laughs – but by this point Lorna was done with surgeries.
“I’d decided in December that there wouldn’t be any more reconstruction and, after everything I’d been through, I wasn’t going to open myself up to any more infections. I just wanted to get on with life.”
Joining the Flattie Club
So, in June, Lorna had the left implant removed.
“Even that wasn’t simple – the radiated tissue had sort of meshed itself with the implant – but it’s done,” she says with relief.
“I am now a fully paid-up member of the Flattie Club.”
While she admits she feels self-conscious about her body, especially as summer comes around, Lorna says she isn’t sad about losing her breasts.
“I expected to feel quite a bit of grief, but I’ve been surprised not to,” she says.
“They’ve done their job. They’ve fed three children, pulled a few guys, they’ve looked good in a low-cut dress – but then they tried to kill me. “That was the point my relationship with my breasts ended. I don’t feel any less of a woman for not having them – and some clothes look great now! I am a bit worried about what I’ll look like in swimsuits, but I can wear pretty, lacy crop tops, which make me feel good. Dressing well always makes me feel better.”
A reason to be grateful
Lorna has a grant from the Ministry of Health for a second prosthetic breast, and some new bras and swimwear, which she’ll get now she’s finally healed.
“I won’t wear them every day as they are pretty heavy, but will I wear them on a big night out when I’ve got a lovely dress to wear that doesn’t quite work with a flat chest? Yes, I will. It’ll be my latest fashion accessory.”
Although Lorna tells her story with trademark grace and good humour, her horrendous experience has taken its toll. She’s undergone seven surgeries – and the anaesthetics and medications that go with them – in 18 months, and has had so many appointments and procedures, she needs to refer to her hospital notes even to remember some of them. But despite all the pain and trauma, she still considers herself one of the lucky ones.
“I’ve always been someone who looks forward rather than back, and I am lucky to be alive and healthy, which not everyone who’s had cancer gets to be. I have a great career and a very supportive workplace, and I’m engaged to a wonderful man who tells me he loves my head and my heart. He doesn’t care at all whether I have breasts or not. And he says I’m easier to cuddle! “I also have an amazing family – my four-year-old granddaughter Kaia has been fascinated by the whole thing. She just says, ‘No more sore boobies, Nana!’”
The adventures ahead
Lorna is a firm believer in always having something to look forward to and her “Lorna the Explorer” travel identity is definitely helping.
“I’m the weekly travel correspondent for Ryan Bridge Today on Three and ThreeNow, and I have some fantastic trips coming up,” she tells excitedly.
“I’ve already been to New South Wales and South Korea this year, and I’m heading to the opening of Club Med in South Africa. “I’m also taking my youngest daughter Zoe to the Gold Coast for her 17th birthday and doing a European cruise in November from Barcelona to Rome with a good friend. Life is good!”
But despite Lorna’s indomitable spirit, as anyone who’s had cancer knows, the journey is never fully over.
“It’s not a walk in the park – there’s no such thing as closing the door on cancer. There’s a very good new webinar from the Breast Cancer Foundation called Life After Breast Cancer that I’d recommend to anyone who’s had it.”
A new beginning
“When you’re diagnosed, it’s a huge shock and you have this active treatment plan. Everything is scheduled and calendared – it’s very intense, and you have oncologists and a medical team checking with you constantly. Then it ends and you’re left in this kind of limbo, where you’re never going to be the same again, but you don’t have a medical team around you any more.”
“Even though I’m monitored every year for any recurrence, the anxiety will always creep in. That’s just something anyone with cancer learns to live with. I just make sure I always have something to look forward to.”
And one of the things Lorna is eagerly awaiting is tying the knot with her darling Mike next year.
“Both our families live in Hawke’s Bay, so hopefully we’ll have a small wedding there next April, with a cruise down the Nile afterwards,” she smiles.
“This experience has shaped part of my life – but it’s only a part of my story. One in nine New Zealand women get breast cancer. I happen to be that one. Right now, though, how can I not feel happy and grateful? I’m ready for the rest of my life to begin.”
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