Addressing media on June 17, Davidson said the cancer, which was picked up during a routine mammogram about a month ago, required her to undergo a partial mastectomy and would lead to her being off work for about four months.
In a previous post, Davidson said she would be taking a break from social media and “using every last minute to settle loose ends at work and get our whare and family ready for me to be still for a while.”
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“I will be taking a proper break from all social media platforms and work emails etc.
“I’m trying my darndest to turn my focus completely to my whānau and whakapapa now. Which means treatment, healing and recovery.”
“For real I know Imma miss you all so much, but friends have loaded me up with reading and listening and art and I have a full bag of clothes mending to get onto.”
During her announcement last month, the Green party co-leader urged other wāhine to get checked themselves, acknowledging the level of breast cancer was disproportionately high for Māori women.
“I have held off telling people about my diagnosis while I continue to focus on Parliamentary work,” she said.
“I do want to be clear, we are fortunate to have picked this up early enough to give us the best odds of getting rid of it, thanks to the breast screening program. I reiterate how important it is that our breast screening programmes … can make sure more people are screened in time to save lives.
“Wāhine mā, please book in your mammograms.”
She said fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick and the rest of the Green MPs would take on her responsibilities as co-leader, noting it was not the first time the party had functioned with only one of its two co-leaders for a period of time.
Davidson would be taking time off after Matariki at the end of the month and asked for privacy during this time.
She intended to stay on as co-leader of the party after treatment and she would return with “fierce” determination to fight for people and the planet.
Davidson has six children with husband Paul Davidson. “My husband is my absolute rock of emotional support,” she said.
“I don’t find it easy to listen to the many wise voices who have been telling me to look after myself for a while,” she said.
Davidson said despite everything, she was feeling good and grateful for the support.
“If anything, the diagnosis really helped me to focus,” she said, adding that if she could continue to work, she would.
“I know that this team will step up, will hold the space for me to be able to return.”
Swarbrick called her co-leader’s strength “palpable” after Davidson revealed the diagnosis.
“She carries the kind of power that never needs to announce itself as it cloaks you in warmth, generosity and understanding,” she wrote on Instagram.
Swarbrick said she would “hold space” in anticipation of her co-leader’s return following Davidson’s departure after Matariki to begin treatment.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon also shared his support for Davidson after the announcement.
“My thoughts are with Marama Davidson and her family at this time,” Luxon wrote on social media.
“I wish her all the very best for a speedy recovery and hope she can join us in Parliament again soon.”
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