Brendan's Story

I was at a friends place for dinner and the mobile rang. I took the call and it was Mum and Dad. Straight away I knew something was wrong. They wanted to know where I was and if they could talk to me asap. The Conversation went on and eventually they told me that Mum hasn’t been well and ‘has been told she has ovarian cancer.’ I was in shock over what I had heard and I went over to my parents to discuss the situation. I was in disbelief. It was very surreal that something of this magnitude was happening to my mum.

Mum was only 59 at the time so I thought she was too young. My mum had been complaining for some weeks about stomach bloating and stomach pains so she went to the family Doctor for a check-up. The blood test came back normal. She played tennis once a week so the Doctor put it down to maybe straining herself but if it continued to come back – she should see him again. It did, so she was instructed to have an ultra sound where a 10cm tumor was found and tested. It came back positive to be ovarian cancer.

An immediate referral was made by the family Doctor to the Oncology principal at the Wesley Hospital and then immediate arrangements made for Mum to be booked into emergency surgery at Greenslopes Private Hospital July 2006 to remove the tumor .We were told by the Surgeon that the survival rate for this type of cancer was 15%. Chemo began immediately and the initial treatment was to go for 12 weeks - for Mum, it was to last 26 weeks. After this treatment, Mum received positive results that she had gone into remission and her hair began to grow back.

She continued to have weekly, then monthly blood counts check- ups until June 2007. Unfortunately the cancer came back, so the chemotherapy treatment and weekly procedure recommenced. She would have blood tests every Tuesday and then Wednesday for chemotherapy. The weekly blood tests were to ensure the blood count marker was in the green for her body to accept the treatment. Mum would spend the full day each week in hospital for the total length of her chemo.

I was brought up in a traditional house where my dad worked and Mum looked after us 5 kids. For Mum, everything was about her children and her grandchildren. She was an amazing person who was always there for us all. She was a selfless person always putting others first and never needing the luxuries of life. When Mum was first diagnosed with this disease, she had to go into hospital immediately to remove some of the cancer. She was supposed to look after one of my sister’s three children. Mum rang Sharon and was disappointed and felt bad that she couldn’t help out – she believed that family always came first. Mum has now passed yet her memory is still with us. Due to the strength my mother showed - I felt a need to do something to the cause.

Last year I had the inaugural “Paulines Dinner” at the Downtown Rugby Club on Eagle St Pier. With over 100 people attending we were able to raise funds for research into an early detection test. For those who couldn’t get to the event – I also climbed Mt Kilimanjaro to raise funds. These two events collectively raised approx $9,000.

“Paulines Dinner” is now an annual event was staged this year at the “River Room” South Bank, Brisbane on Friday November 12th. Funds were raised for the Mater Research Foundation for ovarian cancer. I’m sure my story is one of many everyday people going through this adversity. I am humble, privileged and appreciative for the opportunity you have given me to tell my story, in the goal of finding a cure or early detection test for this terrible disease.

Kind regards, Brendan

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