Eighteen months ago, Auckland-based actress, model and musician Tamsyn Cornwall found herself recovering from stage 3B bowel cancer – and a broken heart. Now, not only is the gorgeous 33-year-old cancer-free and head-over-heels for her new beau, Aucklander Leon Thomason, but she’s also released three beautiful singles under her artist name Ren.
Tamsyn still wears the scars of her multiple operations, including J-pouch surgery, which created a new man-made colon inside her body. But by late 2021, Tamsyn thought she’d finally reached the end of her cancer journey.
“I don’t think we talk about how long recovery really takes,” says the community ambassador for Bowel Cancer New Zealand, who was diagnosed in 2020. “You go from survival mode, where you’ve got this weird structure – appointments, scans, going through chemo or recovering from surgery – to suddenly being back in life. It’s a huge adjustment.”
Healing from her final gruelling operation and trying to imagine a new post-cancer life, the former NZ Fashion Week model was devastated when her relationship started to fall apart.
“I was all over the place,” Tamsyn admits. “It felt like I had a whole new body. I had to learn how to digest again. To be going through a break-up on top of that… It was a really hard period.”
After such a tumultuous time, the last thing Tamsyn was looking for was romance – until she reconnected with 31-year-old Leon via social media. Having met in passing several years before, they started messaging more and more, until Tamsyn finally suggested a casual get-together with the marketing and PR business owner.
Cheers to a new album.
“We were definitely still sussing each other out,” says Tamsyn. “He was really busy with work and I wasn’t looking for a relationship after everything I’d just been through, but I’m such a hopeless romantic!”
The couple, who celebrated their first anniversary on Valentine’s Day, started dating in January 2022. Having already overcome so much, Tamsyn discovered she had a newfound confidence. She recalls, “I thought, ‘I’m just gonna be me and if he doesn’t like it, oh, well.’ We talked about how I’d frozen my eggs on our first date!”
Their easy banter meant Tamsyn felt comfortable being open with him about her ongoing recovery.
“In my last relationship, I tried to make myself more OK than I was,” she confides. “But with Leon, I’m very quick to voice my feelings. I’m classified as disabled I’m not able to do as much sometimes. I still get extremely fatigued, but Leon always takes that into account.
“For my birthday last year, he organised this amazing trip to Abel Tasman, which included kayaking. Instead of just booking it, once we got there, he checked in with me to see how I felt about it and then made sure we had a two-person kayak so I could take breaks. He was so thoughtful.”
The “hopeless romantic” and Leon on holiday in Fiji. “He’s everything I wanted and more.”
Leon was also supportive when Tamsyn decided to make her life-long musical dreams a reality, helping her shoot her videos at his studio and collaborating on her cover art.
“Music has always been such a massive part of my life, but I’d tell myself l wasn’t good enough,” admits the singer-songwriter. “But after everything I went through, I made a decision to do the things that I’d always wanted to do.”
Tamsyn, who worked with Auckland producer Madi Barnes to create her soulful tracks, remembers, “There were times I couldn’t sing and couldn’t play guitar – going through chemo, my hands and throat were too sensitive. Now, being able to have that way of expressing myself has been a kind of therapy.
“Leon has been so supportive, and he’s definitely a muse of mine!” enthuses Tamsyn. “My latest song, Here To Stay, is 100% about him.”
The smitten couple moved in together in August last year, and are already talking marriage and babies.
“Kids are hopefully on the horizon first,” smiles Tamsyn, adding the pair are considering trying to start a family this year.
“It’s exciting, but I know we have to be realistic about it,” she reflects. “My body’s been through so much and with all my scar tissue, it might not be as straightforward as being able to conceive naturally. It’s comforting knowing I have two eggs frozen.”
Sharing how lucky she feels to have found her person, Tamsyn confides, “Leon’s also open to adoption and different forms of having a family, which is really special to me.
“We connect on a level that I didn’t think was possible. He’s everything I wanted and more.”
