Radio star on ‘surreal’ cancer diagnosis

ZM’s Georgia Burt was diagnosed with cancer in 2022. Photo / ZM
One in three Kiwis will be affected by a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime – and ZM’s Jam Packed Workday host Georgia Burt says it still feels “surreal” that she’s one of them. She and her fellow NZME radio hosts are taking part in a fundraiser for the Cancer Society this Daffodil Day to help other Kiwis going through cancer. Here, she tells the Herald what it means to her to be part of it.
Just over two years ago, ZM radio host Georgia Burt was diagnosed with myxoid liposarcoma – a type of cancer that starts in the fat cells.
“I had found this lump on the side of my left thigh and I sort of thought at the time I was going a bit hard at the gym [and] I hadn’t stretched the muscles and rolled it out, so I didn’t really do too much about it,” she tells the Herald.
The following month, she went to the GP to get a different injury checked out, thinking she’d popped a hernia, and pointed out the lump. An ultrasound found she’d pulled an ab muscle, but it also showed the 3x7cm lump in her leg was “bright white”.
A few days later “I was at work on air and about halfway through the day I got a phone call from my doctor saying, ‘this is what it could be … we’re going to need to refer you’,” Burt recalls.
“From that week, everything just started happening. And then not long after that, I was diagnosed with liposarcoma.”
Burt underwent five weeks of radiation to shrink the lump before having surgery to remove it, leaving a 20cm scar on her leg. Now cancer-free, she has to go for regular checks, MRIs and X-rays for the next few years.
“It’s been a wild journey and I feel like appointments all the time bring back so much anxiety,” she says, adding that she feels very lucky to have gotten health insurance just months before her diagnosis.
“That’s one of the biggest things since then that I think has made my friends and family more aware of the importance of that, and how much it can be life-changing in [those] situations.”
Burt waited to tell ZM listeners about her diagnosis until right before her operation.
“I’d come to work and it was my escape. I’d be with my mates and there’d be hard days, but as soon as I put the mic on, it was like, it’s all good. Outside of work was where I thought about it all the time.
“Two days before I was heading off for surgery was when I told everyone and I had never been so shaky on air before, it was pretty hard. But the messages that came through were just so lovely.”
The ZM host has recently marked 10 years at the radio station.
“It feels like it’s gone so quickly. But also I’ve just got some of my closest friends here, there’s rapport with the day show listeners – I don’t know, I guess they’ve been on a bit of a journey with me as well – they’ve seen me go from the night show to producing to here. It’s quite cool to say that I’ve been somewhere for 10 years.”
Next year will bring another milestone; Burt and her fiance Hamish Stewart are planning to tie the knot in Christchurch in February.
The couple weathered Burt’s diagnosis together, something that she says has strengthened the relationship. “You get this closeness, it’s almost unspoken. Like, you don’t even know the words,” she shares.
And while it brought her closer to her parents as well, she says it sometimes felt like she was teaching them how to cope with her diagnosis.
“It’s why I think things like the Cancer Society are so important, because they help with the aftercare, they help with all those processes,” she explains. “One in three Kiwis will be affected by cancer in some way, shape or form, whether it’s themselves, a family member or a friend.”
To be in that third of New Zealanders was “pretty surreal” she says.
This year, the Cancer Society’s annual Daffodil Day falls on Friday, August 30, and NZME’s radio stations are teaming up with ANZ in a live broadcast event to raise funds and awareness for the charity.
Burt will MC the event alongside ZM’s Carl Fletcher, Vaughan Smith, Hayley Sproull, Bree Tomasel and Clint Roberts at NZME in Auckland, kicking off at 8.30am on Friday and hosting different guests on air and on a livestream throughout the day.
“We’ve got performances from the likes of Joel from L.A.B., Kaylee Bell, Cassie Henderson, Jon Toogood, there’s an entire lineup of very talented artists and then also special guests,” Burt says.
Radio Hauraki’s Jeremy Wells, The Hits’ Jono Pryor and Ben Boyce, and Coast’s Toni Street and Sam Wallace will also take part.
“Dai Henwood’s jumping on with Fletch, Vaughan and Hayley, Jess Quinn’s on in the afternoon with Bree and Clint – there’s so many amazing Kiwis with their own stories that you will hear about joining us on the day … it’s a day that everyone can be a part of.
“There’s a livestream where people can watch us throughout the day and we’ll be just trying to raise money for the ANZ Donation Station.”
The Cancer Society funds cancer research in New Zealand and provides support for Kiwis going through cancer as well as for their loved ones – something that Burt knows from experience is “such an important thing”.
“It’s not just the person going through the cancer journey, it’s also the others around them, because no one’s brought up knowing how to deal with those situations or knowing where their emotions are going to go or how to control them.”
Ahead of the event, Burt says it feels “very special” to be part of the fundraiser.
“I think it just hits too close to home for a lot of us and it feels really real, and wanting to be a part of it is more important and special than we ever thought.”
Listen to ZM this Friday, or watch the livestream here. Text SUPPORT to 206 to make an instant $3 donation.
Bethany Reitsma is an Auckland-based journalist covering lifestyle and entertainment stories who joined the Herald in 2019. She specialises in telling Kiwis’ real-life stories, money-saving hacks and anything even remotely related to coffee.