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80 Railway Street, Cottesloe WA 6011 PO Box 905, Cottesloe WA 6911 Telephone (08) 9324 3703 info@breastcancer.org.au www.breastcancer.org.au
May 2015
Dear friend,
Every mother deserves to be pampered on Mother’s Day. But some mothers, especially those living with breast cancer, deserve extra special care. Thanks to your generous support, we are able to provide vital services to mothers both young and not so young, with what they need during the most difficult frightening time of their lives.
But breast cancer does not discriminate. It can literally hit anyone. Some of the women we help are hardly more than girls. We see young women in their early 20’s right through to ladies in their 80’s. Many have children and others don’t. For some this chance is taken away from them due to the effects of treatment. Some have had to live with a family history of the disease, never knowing when or if it will strike them. Others are struck right out of the blue. At our Long Table Lunch held earlier this year I had the great privilege of meeting many brave people and their families. One of them was Donna, a mother of two, who has generously shared her story on Page 3.
Just weeks after her baby boy Hudson arrived safely she found a distinct lump in her breast and asked her GP about it. She was assured, ‘Everything should be fine…it’s probably a blocked milk duct.’ But the doctor sent her for an ultrasound just to be sure.
A week later Donna was given the terrifying diagnosis - triple negative breast cancer. She had just six days to wean her breastfeeding baby before surgery and the whirlwind of gruelling cancer treatment began.
Every year we are seeing more and more people battling breast cancer. The support we provide them is completely free of charge and with no government funding available to us we are completely reliant on the generous support of people like you. As the end of financial year approaches we are struggling to raise the funds we need to provide services for the next 12 months. I hope you may be able to help with a generous and tax deductible donation today?
P lease continue over the page..
I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support over the last 12 months, which has allowed our four counsellors and four specialist breast care nurses provide 6,192 instances of support over the phone, face to face in homes, at our office and hospital bedsides. That’s an incredible 40% increase on the previous year!
Thanks to the generous response to our last appeal, in the past three months, our counsellors facilitated 25 support groups in 10 different locations and a two day intensive workshop dealing with fear and uncertainty. We’ve also been able to fund nearly one hundred individual requests for financial help with mortgages, rents, food, utility bills and household costs. During those three months we also responded to over 121 calls from the wider community. When you read Donna’s story you’ll see what a really dreadful year she’s had, but still she keeps smiling. She has a long way to go but with your support we can continue to be there for her.
A donation of $500 can help pay the mortgage or rent of someone who has to stop work while going through treatment. $100 could help pay an electricity, gas or phone bill. $120 could pay for a day of fun and happy memories for a family like Donna’s. Nobody deserves the pain, stress and worry that breast cancer brings. They deserve all the emotional, practical and financial support, pampering, care and friendship we can give them.
We are desperately short of the funds needed to secure services over the next twelve months. I ask you to please send your most generous tax deductible donation today to help bring comfort and care to people facing breast cancer? Thank you for caring,
Zoe McAlpine Chief Executive Officer
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P.S. Right now we are planning our services for the coming year. Please send your tax deductible donation today to ensure we can be there for everyone who needs our help. Thank you.
Letter from Donna, a survivor of breast cancer Your mum is 12,000 kilometres away, you have a toddler, a tiny baby and you’ve just been told you have breast cancer … where do you turn for help? This was Donna just last year. Read how your support provided vital information, care and support through the most difficult days of her life. “I was 7 months pregnant when I found an area that felt a little hard on one side of my breast. I discussed it with my consultant but was told that it’s all part and parcel of pregnancy. Thinking back, I really wish I’d had it properly checked out but instead I just put it out of my mind and continued to enjoy my pregnancy. Then in March 2014 just a couple of months after my baby Hudson was born I found a lump in the same breast and immediately went to see my GP. He examined me and assured me that it was probably just a blocked milk duct, but to be sure he sent me to have an ultrasound that day. I remember the ultrasound examination like it was yesterday. I could just tell something wasn’t right by the sonographer’s body language. He was biting his lip and kept going over the same area again and again. Then I heard those frightening words, “Is anyone with you?” A week later I found myself sitting in my surgeon’s office being told “It’s breast cancer.” It was the last thing I expected at 33. I had a 14 week old who was breastfeeding, a 3 year old who had just started kindy and my hubby had just started a new job so the timing was terrible. Although I had the support of my in-laws all my family were still living in the UK so I felt awfully homesick. I was so overwhelmed I didn’t know what to do. Then a friend of mine sent me the link to Breast Cancer Care WA. I sent an email straight away. I heard back from Moira a breast care nurse who arranged to come and see me within a few days. Moira was fantastic, giving me lots of information and guidance prior to my surgery. She also put me in touch with a lady who had been through the same experience. It all happened so fast, I was operated on within a week. I had a mastectomy and full axillary clearance. The hardest thing for me was the 7 night stay in hospital, having my boys visit me and then go home again leaving me alone and my mum being so far away. The first time I looked at myself in the mirror I was shocked. My hubby has been so brilliant throughout and has never looked at me any differently and together we have overcome that shock. Following surgery I faced 8 sessions of chemo once a fortnight and 5 weeks of radiotherapy. With the help, love and support from close friends and family, my mum was flown out to Perth as a surprise. I
Please give your most generous gift today to enable Breast Cancer Care WA to continue their wonderful work, because no one should have to face breast cancer on their own.
DONATE didn’t realise at the time just how precious this time would be and although I felt pretty terrible due to the side effects of chemo, I was so glad my mum was here to support me. The effects of chemo were tough but again Breast Cancer Care WA came through and organised someone to sit with me during the days when I was sick or tired, and someone to help with housework. I’d explained in as little detail as possible to my three year old. His beautiful caring nature and innocence kept me going. I have to laugh when I remember overhearing him saying to a little friend, “come and check out my mum she has no hair, mum take your hat off, see, look it’s all spiky! My mum has a blue wig and a brown wig and a red wig and looks so beautiful.” My heart melted right there on the spot. Then, even before my treatment was completed, I was hit with another bombshell in September. My dear mum was diagnosed with lung cancer and died just six weeks later. I was completely devastated. No doubt it was one of the worst years of my life. But with love and determination from my boys, my hubby, my close friends and family, and the support I have received from everyone at Breast Cancer Care WA I managed to get through. I’m so proud of myself for making it with my positivity shining bright. I set up a private group on Facebook and posted updates and photos so everyone could track my journey and join me along the way. It was a great way to stay positive and keep smiling. Everyone’s been amazing and have certainly kept me grounded. I’ve received practical assistance from Moira who has always been so kind and caring and I’ve had the benefit of being involved with the support networks here in WA. My counsellor Aileen really has a heart of gold, always showing me such compassion and empathy, She’s been there for me in person, on the phone or email providing emotional support, coping strategies and a shoulder to cry on, often crying together with me . Thank goodness for this great charity, which made such a difference to my family in 2014. I continue to speak with Moira and Aileen and regard them as good friends, which is so lovely. 2014 was a horrendous year but I’ve learnt to look for the positives in everything. For a while I felt very guilty for not being there for my boys as a mother should be, but I had to fight back and get better so that they will have me for years to come. Right now I love every moment I spend with them as I slowly piece my life back together. Breast cancer has definitely changed me. It makes you realise how precious life really is. Now I live by the following saying, Dance like no one is watching Love like you’ve never been hurt Sing like no one is listening Live like its heaven on earth Thank you to everyone who supports Breast Cancer Care WA, I don’t know how I would have made it without you!”
Donna
Please give your most generous gift today to enable Breast Cancer Care WA to continue their wonderful work, because no one should have to face breast cancer on their own.