Breast cancer research saved my life

I had always known that I was very likely to get breast cancer. My mother and three of her sisters were all first diagnosed in their 30s, and sadly died far too young.

About 13 years ago I joined a clinical trial which was testing whether the drug Tamoxifen could prevent the disease in women, like me, at high risk of getting breast cancer.

Many thousands of women all over Australia, and indeed the world, joined the trial. For me, being closely monitored and exposed to the best possible treatment was my strongest insurance to beat this disease.

I had been on the trial for just two years when during a yearly visit to the supervising doctor she discovered a lump that I had not felt.

Very quickly other tests revealed that it was cancerous.

Eleven years ago it was not possible in Perth to have a gene test to see if you carried a gene mutation likely to place you at greater risk of breast cancer, but my gut feeling told me that something hereditary was involved. 

To avoid any likelihood of a future recurrence I opted to have both my breasts removed. The size of the tumour also meant that six months of chemotherapy was necessary.

I have virtually not had a day’s sickness since and people meeting me for the first time would have no idea that I have survived breast cancer.

Research saved my life.

Clinical trials conducted in the years prior to my diagnosis ensured that the treatment I received far surpassed what was available to my mother and aunts. 

Clinical trials research underway now continues to build on knowledge gained for the benefit of people diagnosed with breast cancer today and in the future.  Clinical trials are the essential tool that can ensure a new treatment or treatment strategy is effective, safe and has the potential to save lives.  

This research could save your life or the life of someone close to you.

It has now been confirmed by genetic testing that I carry a gene mutation known as BRCA1. Fortunately, very few women have a genetic predisposition to breast cancer.

But clinical trials research has greatly increased the odds of women in families such as mine, and indeed any person diagnosed with breast cancer, being able to live long, productive lives.

I was 28 when my mum died from breast cancer when she was just 52.

Now that I am 52 and have a wonderful future ahead of me, it makes me realise even more, how young she really was and how much life she still had to live.

We need your help.

The Breast Cancer Institute of Australia is committed to supporting the Australian New Zealand Breast Cancer Trials Group (ANZ BCTG). This Group conducts Australia’s only clinical trials research program for the prevention and cure of breast cancer.

Please support this life-saving research by making a regular, monthly donation.

By supporting this research, you are not just improving the lives of people diagnosed with breast cancer and those at high risk – you are supporting families too, for it is the broader family that really carries the cost of breast cancer.