My 250th Parkrun is on Saturday 11th June 2022 all being well. I have decided to celebrate this with a breakfast/brunch and raise money for Breast Cancer Now. 

My cancer story begins in April 2019. I was called for a mammogram – the ones every female gets offered in their early fifties.  I did not have a clue that anything was wrong. As I came out of the mammogram screening, I felt a long thin lump and just put this down to having my boob squashed.  I shrugged this off and went on holiday without a care in the world.

When I returned there was a letter asking me to go back to be scanned again. It was at Kings Hospital that I had a second mammogram followed by an ultra-sound.  As I entered
the room for the ultra-sound I knew something was wrong. I could see it on the faces of the staff. They were very honest and when I asked if I had cancer they said it was looking that way and more tests would be needed. I had two lumps one they said was cancer and the second they were not sure about.

Hearing this was so scary. It was hard sharing the cancer
diagnosis with my family and friends.  As a fit person who ran regularly, breastfed my three children, had no history of
family members having breast cancer, it was not in my world that this could happen to me. My husband had bowel cancer ten years earlier – How could cancer happen to both of us?

Waiting for my surgery was really difficult. I just wanted
it done.

I am a teacher and continued working up until my surgery.  My head was all over the place but working helped to take my mind off all the different things I was worrying about. Appointments
came thick and fast for various biopsies and tests. 

Family and friends were so supportive and there were some
funny moments. In order to check my lymph nodes, I was injected with blue dye.  I remember coming out of lymph node surgery and looking like a smurf!  My whole body had turned a bluey green colour and my breast that was going to be removed was bright blue. Friends joked about this and blue tits accessories (the feathered kind) began to appear everywhere. Thankfully only one lymph node
was taken, the cancer had not spread.

It was early June when I had my Mastectomy and reconstruction using fatty tissue from my stomach. After a few weeks recovery
the chemo started. I was told that the cancer was hormone receptive and was fast growing. Four rounds of chemo were planned. After the first one I was back in hospital with sepsis.  This was awful and such a low point.  I had infection after infection throughout the chemo. 

When my hair started to fall out I was amazed by just how much hair I had!  It was everywhere in my house so my family helped to shave my head.  There was no more hiding that I was being treated for cancer. 

My recovery continued and I was back taking part in Parkrun
albeit very slowly at first. Parkrun at Footscray Meadows was a big part of my recovery and provided motivation.  I returned to work and it was difficult to understand myself and what I could and couldn’t manage.  I just wanted to get back to a bit of normal.  After a few
months of being back at work COVID and lockdown restrictions were impacting on how schools functioned.  Normal routines were
gone for everyone.

I now take daily tablets to supress hormones and prevent cancer from returning.  There are some side effects. I get much more tired than I did before having cancer treatment and the drugs have given me menopause symptoms. In any one day I can be grumpy, ecstatic, exhausted, sweating and have brain fog.  Sometimes I just can’t get my words out and have to remind myself just how fortunate I am. 

In June 2021 I had further surgery to my reconstructed breast this had been delayed due to COVID.  I feel extremely lucky that my diagnosis and almost all my treatment happened before COVID. I feel extremely lucky to have the most amazing family and friends who have supported me from day one.  My heart goes out to people who are just finding out they have cancer and then finding it is at an advanced stage because of the impact of COVID on our health system. 

I now feel ready to give back and raise some money for cancer charities with the help of my amazing family and friends.  Raising awareness and reminders to check ourselves are so important especially now as so many of us are affected by cancer in one way or another.  

I want others to have the same access to treatment as I have had and to feel fortunate.  I want future generations to know we have done as much as we possibly can to improve their life chances in the way cancer is diagnosed and treated.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

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