Kiwi cancer survivor tells : 'THE LOVE THAT SAVED ME'

Auckland musician Tamsyn Cornwall, aka Ren, reveals her brave journey to romance

- Florence Hartigan

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 fi nal 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.”