Unbreakable Bond Lana & Sam Face Tough Times Together

On and Off Air, the Radio Stars Look Out for Each Other

- Amy Prebble

They work together, live next door to each other and can often be spotted out on a jet ski or at the driving range in the afternoons. In fact, radio co-hosts Lana Searle and Samantha Baxter are so close they’re often mistaken for sisters.

The best friends, who are part of More FM’s Breakfast Club, are both laid-back, witty and quick to laugh – traits they’ve been able to maintain despite years of devastating illnesses.

For Lana (32), the health troubles began when she went on the contraceptive pill to combat ongoing hormonal issues. She quickly developed blood clots and ended up in hospital needing seven blood transfusions. The presenter then spent two years going on and off different hormones before, exhausted and sick, she finally opted for a hysterectomy to try to regain some quality of life.

Unfortunately, she got two infections after the hysterectomy. One day, after losing a huge amount of blood in her bathroom at home, she was rushed to hospital for life-saving surgery.

Lana, who just last week announced her engagement to Katie Cochrane (36), is now in much better health, but admits she struggled to come to terms with everything that happened.

“Sam was the one who helped me identify that I needed counselling,” recalls Lana. “She said, ‘Dude, this is a real thing and unless you sort it out, it’s not going to go away.’ I mean, I talked about all of the health stuff I was going through all the time, like a live commentary, but I wasn’t processing it at the same time. I was having awful nightmares and flashbacks during the day, which I’ve since learnt was PTSD.”

Sam (28) was in a unique position to support her friend – she knew how it felt to deal with a scary knock to your health.

In 2015, she woke one morning feeling numb and tingly from the waist down.