Ladies lunch

My story is a little unique as I currently work at the Mater Hospital as a part of Cancer Services (MDT Coordinator) and work closely with the Breast Care Multi Disciplinary Team. Ever since I was treated for bladder cancer in my 30s (not long after giving birth to my 3rd child) I have been a staunch health and wellness advocate – walking, hiking, swimming and lifting weights are part of my weekly fitness routine along with predominantly eating clean. I even gave up drinking alcohol to give my body every chance to stay as fit and healthy as possible.

I am thankful for my baseline health and fitness as I believe this has helped in my recovery. My daughter had her university graduation in Canberra 2 days after my initial surgery and was well enough to be able to attend. 2 weeks post my final surgery I started doing some light lower body workouts in a rehab gym – I am used to working out 5 times a week and so it felt good to keep my body moving.

I first noticed some swelling in my left armpit, which settled down over 24 hours into a 2-3cm lump that was sensitive to the touch, so I went off to my GP and then mammograms, ultrasound and biopsies. Unfortunately, the mammogram and biopsies revealed that there were also 2 lumps in the breast tissue, one of which along with the node in the armpit was cancerous and HER2+.  Within 1 month after the biopsy and a week of seeing my surgeon and oncologist, I had started my first round of chemotherapy.  It all happened so fast.

It is a bit of a shock to have this diagnosis,  but I have been very well supported by my friends, work, medical and church communities.  My faith in God has enabled me to accept and walk through this journey with a confidence I didn’t know I had in me.  

You don’t need to know everything yourself.  Follow the process, trust your medical staff  and breast care nurses  - they have been through it before many times and can and will give great advice as you need it.

I was 18 weeks pregnant when I came home (Australia) for a Christmas holiday to see family and friends with my husband Iain. We had been living in Spain the last two years with Iain’s work. I found a lump just before Christmas and decided to check myself into a polyclinic New Year’s Day before flying back to Spain. Fast forward to 7 days later (after multiple biopsy’s & tests) and I was sitting in Dr Cindy Mak’s office at LifeHouse, hearing the news that I had HER2+ breast cancer. From there Mak assembled an amazing team including my oncologist Dr Jane Beith and obstetrician Dr Neil Campbell, the coordinated approach led to the successful delivery of our baby girl, Gigi whilst treating my cancer successfully.

Life changed a lot, my husband had to fly back to Spain and pack up our life there whilst I started my first treatment. Although it was a particularly difficult journey to navigate through it, upon reflection I am proud with what we achieved and had we mentally tackled the diagnosis and treatment plan.

Don’t be afraid to accept help from friends or family. Whether it’s a frozen meal or a hug I found saying “yes” and accepting that help meant that we could focus on the “admin” of breast cancer treatment

Recover from surgery was pretty breezy as I only had a lumpectomy, allowing me to be back at work within 2 days.

Recovery from chemo is on going with regrowth of hair being a massive part of my identity I’ve found that quite hard. But I’ve had fun with wigs along the way.

Radiation was fine I found no affect with that just going in 5 days as week but I had an awesome team.

Stay strong, everything gets better with time!

You bet this and you can bet anything

I have worked very hard through my journey at not letting BC take over my world. I have tried to focus on staying fit mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically. I have tried to focus as much as possible on the good things that happen day to day, and I find joy in the simple things in life and   I try the best I can to look at the upside of recovery rather than the downside.  I have been blessed with incredible family and friends that have helped me navigate such a difficult time and I have not allowed my diagnosis to hold me back. Fortunately, I have had the strength and power to achieve this, but it is not for a lack of hard work in taking care of myself.

I have worked very hard through my journey at not letting BC take over my world. I have tried to focus on staying fit mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically. I have tried to focus as much as possible on the good things that happen day to day and I find joy in the simple things in life and   I try the best I can to look at the upside of recovery rather than the downside.  I have been blessed with incredible family and friends that have helped me navigate such a difficult time and I have not allowed my diagnosis hold me back. Fortunately, I have had the strength and power to achieve this, but it is not for a lack of hardwork in taking care of myself.

I’m an aunt (to four amazing nephews), that’s my most important role in life and where I do my best work! I’m an identical twin. I have an amazing family and network of friends. I work as a Director of Policy and Research at a not-for-profit [Australian Academy of the Humanities] – I’ve been there for 15 years. I get to work with amazing people and brightest minds, I’m lucky.

In every way. My life has been on ‘pause’ since the diagnosis and through treatment. We acted quickly, I was incredibly grateful to get into amazing surgical oncologist (Dr Kylie Snook), surgery was swift, then a period of recovery, then a waiting game as I underwent an Octotype test to determine whether I needed chemo. Game-changer results meant I could go straight to radiation (a course of daily treatments over three weeks). I’m now on hormone blockers.

Summon your people. Ask for help. Trust your feelings. My sisters, my Mum, and my extended family and friends have gotten me through. I don’t think of being on a ‘cancer journey’, it’s just life. From here on in I must keep using the tools I’ve developed since diagnosis and foremost that means looking after myself – all the things I didn’t make time for beforehand – regular check-ups, exercise, yoga, meditation. Medical science can only get you so far, it’s the technical fix, but you need all the human stuff to really sustain you.

I feel like I'm living in a dream. It happens in a split second and you have no time to try your head around it. Some days you don't believe it's happening to you and it doesn't feel real still, some days. However, as its a big shock initially but now that I'm half way through chemo, and I'm feeling good and treatment isn't rough, it's just become my new normal, and life goes on.

Of course when your unwell, your ability to be hands on with the kids is affected and initially you manage everyone else's emotions, work changes (I only work part time now that I'm going through treatment and only when I feel like it, bless my work place), the way I look physically with the hair loss, weight gain, thinning eye brows etc isn't great but it'll grow back and my body still has alot of changes and healing to come.

Dont waste time managing everyone else's emotions because when you share the news there will be a whole lot of tears from other people, and a while lot of you consoling people telling them you'll be fine

Over the Christmas period last year, each day I was travelling a 4 hour round trip to nurse my 94 yr. old father in the spinal unit.

I arrived home one evening and noticed a significant lump in my breast. I didn’t waste time and after a mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy I was diagnosed with breast cancer on a Wednesday and by the following Monday I was sitting in A/Prof Cindy Maks office – my ‘Surgical Angel’ – discussing plans of a lumpectomy operation, removal sentinel nodes, radiation, hormone therapy etc.

What a wild trip! Happy so called New Year! Breast cancer definitely wasn’t in my brochure for life!

Dig deep into your inner strength, and make self-love/care compulsory fun!

Surround yourself with positive people, as our mindset is everything!

And remember: where you start is not where you finish! Each day is a new adventure – look for the upside with lots of reframing our fears, failures and always look for the silver lining (even when it seems a little thin on the ground!) and for me, black humour never goes astray!

Find Joy in the small things of life! We’ve got this! We can do it!

I was blissfully unaware of my own risk.  I was over 40 but had never had a mammogram and didn’t conduct regular checks – I was an A cup so didn’t think there was enough there to even worry!

I woke up at 2am one morning and felt compelled to touch a lump in my left breast.  It was a size of pea, how bad could it be.  A friend insisted I go and get it checked out so I called the doctor.  Next appt was in 2 weeks and then another couple of weeks before any ultrasounds would happen.  I figured that was ok but she insisted I push things further so I managed to get an appt that Friday.  I was at RNSH on my own for a mammogram, which quickly resulted in an ultrasound and a young doctor telling me they were pretty sure it was cancer, but I’d have to wait until next week to confirm (it was a long weekend).

Talk to people, ask for help, accept the help, don’t do it alone – there are no medals at the end of it all for being “strong”.

Personally, I didn’t want to spend my time in support groups going over and over everything and dwelling on the crap.  I was fortunate enough to have a couple of friends who would let me talk about how crap it was but not wallow in it.

The first cancer was treated by a Lumpectomy and radiation. Testing showed unlikely to return. This was a difficult time as my only brother was diagnosed with lung cancer at the same time. He lost his battle in September of 2017, whilst I was still undergoing my treatment. In July of 2023 the Triple Negative appeared 4 weeks after my Mammogram and Ultrasound 2x2 cm very scary scenario. Treatment was full on, 12xweekly and 4 x 3 weekly the latter being the “red devil” of chemo. I then had a double mastectomy and Diep reconstruction 30/1/24.  My recovery period has been long and arduous, and still recovering.

I have slowed down considerably. I have met some amazingly positive woman along the way. My wonderful team of professionals, and my breast care nurse, have come along for the ride 2^nd time around. The uplifting positive women at the Kay Van Norton Centre for Wellbeing have played a pivotal role in my mental health being as good as can be.

“It is what it is” It’s a hectic ride. Ask lots of questions, surround yourself with positive people. You can't afford to have “negative Nellys” around. Some people cannot handle what you are going through, that’s ok, but give them a wide berth.

Most importantly be kind to yourself.