NEWS 5
ausdoc . com . au 13 SEPTEMBER 2024
NEWS 5
| THE | WOMEN ’ S AND MEN ’ S HEALTH SPECIAL
‘ How the darkest times led me to medicine ’
Former world champion Dr Jana Pittman talks about what lies behind the glitter .
Dr Jana Pittman at the AMA conference .
Paul Smith “ DOES anyone know how many small people have come out of my vagina ?”
Dr Jana Pittman is on stage at the AMA conference , a world champion athlete who , for 20 years , competed around the globe in the green and gold .
There is a certain energy in her movements ; she still carries star power .
The answer to her question is six . And it is her family emblazoned on the big screen behind her that is another story of a successful life , along with the fact that , following her athletic career , she qualified as a doctor before securing a place on the RANZCOG training program .
But her talk is really about the darkness beneath the glitter , the many moments when things were breaking apart — and how medicine offered a lifeline at one of her lowest ebbs .
Her stellar career on the track as a 400m runner and hurdler was punctuated by injuries that must have seemed to her engineered to deny her what she wanted most .
She went to three Olympics — Athens , Beijing and London — and never won gold , never medalled , despite all the world records and victories .
It was a ruptured meniscus , her right Achilles and the fascia that put paid to her ambitions — all four years apart , all in that order .
“ My greatest failure has been the Olympic Games ,” she says . “ God , that hurt . That was painful .”
She was pilloried by the media for her alleged failures , the fallen hero , enduring the ‘ Drama Jana ’ jibes , but she also speaks of the collapse of her first marriage , her miscarriages , a major cervical cancer scare and the crippling belief throughout that she was not quite worthy .
Dr Pittman recalls , when she was at a low point contemplating the end of her athletics career , a conversation in a Melbourne coffee shop with her beloved mum , Jackie , the woman who made her dreams possible .
“ Jana , what are you going to do with the rest of your life ?” she says . “ Sport ’ s over for you . It ’ s finished .” “ I ’ m like , ‘ Thanks , Mum !’” “ But when you were a kid , you wanted to be a doctor ,” she continues .
“ And I ’ m like , ‘ Mum , I ’ m about to move into your garage , I have $ 18 in my account and I have a kid that I ’ m dragging around . How does that sound sensible to you ?’
“ She goes , ‘ But imagine if you walk across the stage one day , and they say , ‘ Dr Pittman .’
“ And suddenly , I think , ‘ God , yes , that would sound amazing .’
“ So , I sat that horrible test [ UMAT ], which many of us have sat . God , that thing sucks , but I dreamt of this amazing medical career I was going to have . “ Well , I dreamt until I failed it miserably . “ I was sent seven rejection letters from the different universities telling me I just wasn ’ t clever enough . So that was it for me . That chapter was over .”
But 12 months roll around , and her mum is on the phone telling her it is UMAT time .
“ No , Mum . Do I really want to prove to myself that I ’ m just not clever enough ? Twice over . I have the best excuse : I was an athlete for 20 years .”
“ Well , you failed the Olympics three times , so you ’ ve got two more shots at this at least .”
This time , Dr Pittman got in — no third Olympics required . But it was still tough .
During her years at medical school at Western Sydney University , she was going through IVF and having miscarriages . When doctors investigated , they found she had CIN 3 cervical dysplasia .
“ Twelve years of no Pap smears ! Idiot , idiot !”
She says she was confronted with the spectre of a trachelectomy or hysterectomy .
But she still graduated , she did the hospital terms and , at the age of 41 , she won a place on the RANZCOG training program .
Winning gold at the World Championships in Osaka , 2007 .
“ I can hand on heart say , the day I walked across the stage and joined you guys as a doctor , I cried harder that day than any medal that ’ s ever come past me , any experience that I ’ ve ever been through .
“ Look , I ’ m probably the oldest trainee in RANZCOG history , surely ?” she jokes . “ But the things that I thought were the deepest , darkest , hardest days of my life led me to the career that I have now .
“ I love running , don ’ t get me wrong . I still get sadness and stuff knowing the Olympics are on .
‘ Look , I ’ m probably the oldest trainee in RANZCOG history , surely ?’
“ But this week , when they began in Paris , I delivered my first-ever twins .
“ I ’ ve done lots and lots of births , but somehow , I didn ’ t get to be present at a twin birth before . And I got to be the one that said to that family , ‘ Here ’ s your beautif … Oh my god , here ’ s your second beautiful baby !’
“ It was the best experience I ’ ve had in months . And to think that is the job I now have .”
As she ends her talk , she adds : “ So , as much as I ’ d like to say I ’ m [ an ] Olympic champion , I ’ m far prouder to say I ’ m Dr Jana Pittman .
“ That is the story I was always meant to be .”