• Patient and carer stories

  • Chris

    Chris, a fit twenty-one-year-old university student, first noticed the symptoms of his rare sinus cancer around November 2008. Chris was on holiday, surfing in Hawaii, when what he thought was an ongoing ear infection began to get worse.

    Claire

    Claire was living the dream, a healthy and fun-filled life in Australia, having moved to Sydney from England in 2006 and could not imagine that a year later she would have beaten two cancers, undergone IVF and been to hell and back.

    Faye

    When university student, Chris was diagnosed with a rare Embryonal Rhabdomyo Sarcoma – a malignant tumour in his nasal cavity, his girlfriend, Faye Rossiter, 22, said it was also day of mixed emotions.

    Michael

    Sydney architect and sports enthusiast, Michael, 43, had been experiencing constant and increasing back pain for some time leading up to Christmas 2006. Thinking it was just a sign of getting older, Michael kept pursuing his sporting interests including surfing and playing AFL football, running his Ultimo architectural practice and being an active dad to his two young boys, Thomas and Ewan.

    Milica

    Architect, Milica, 30, has had a long and difficult journey to find the best care and treatment for her thyroid cancer.

    Paul

    Balmain resident, Paul, 46, found that the worst stage of his cancer diagnosis and treatment was the first two weeks after initially finding a lump in one of his testicles.

    Sally

    Sally knows from first hand experience the enormous loss and sadness of caring and losing a loved one to cancer. Sally’s husband, Andy, 37, sadly lost his battle with a rare bile duct cancer, and secondary liver cancer, in May 2009.

    Sophie

    Sophie, 28, came to Australia from France in August, 2008 to learn English. She enjoyed life here so much that she decided to stay longer and found a sponsorship in Bondi Beach, working as a spa manager. In August, 2009 on a return trip to visit her family in France, Sophie had a check up with her gynaecologist who found an irregular pap smear result.