What a difference life is now from almost a year and half ago. After all the joy of becoming a Mum for the second time our world was tipped upside down with my diagnosis of stage 3c triple negative breast cancer. It was so hard telling our older son and stopping breastfeeding our baby. But I knew I just had to throw everything at the ‘fight’ for them. I was lucky I had found the cancer in time before it had metastasised, as a couple of weeks later, it could have been a different outcome. As the cancer was so aggressive so was my treatment. I had 6 months of treatment chemotherapy, immunotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy plus more. It was tough physically and I could not complete all my treatment (almost all though) as my bloods were just not recovering and became dangerously low. But harder was the emotional and mental strain on my whānau and precious quality time was ripped away.
Today I am just grateful to be here, feeling better every day, enjoying being a full time Mama again and adjusting to, but enjoying, a ‘new normal’.
There has been so much aroha and support from whānau, friends and Playcentre whānau which I will be forever grateful.
Breast Cancer Foundation NZ have been a wealth of knowledge, guidance and support for me along my treatment journey. Please support me if you are able to ensure BCF can continue this amazing and much needed mahi for other New Zealanders.
