I am a high school teacher, a farmer’s wife, and the mother of two rambunctious girls aged four and six. We live on our family farm near the rural village of Caragabal, in the middle of NSW.
Unfortunately, cancer is not new in our family; my dad died of cancer almost 20 years ago, and I am a cancer survivor myself.
I was diagnosed in 2016 at age 35 with aggressive triple negative breast cancer, I underwent a double mastectomy, chemotherapy, node dissection and radiation. My outcome is there is no longer any evidence of the disease. With treatment over, hope is left. Hope that the cancer never comes back, hope that my daughters are never directly affected by it, hope that I am around to help them through puberty, weddings and babies, and hope that I live long enough to enjoy retirement with my husband.
After my personal experiences with cancer, I urgently wanted to do my bit to help cancer researchers in this country to beat this disease. Although cancer treatments are improving and major research breakthroughs are getting closer, continuing those efforts needs more money.
My first, and small, event to raise funds for cancer research was shaving my head for donations, just before starting chemo last year. The next event will be massive! On August 26 there will be a combined farming machinery clearing sale in Caragabal with buyers and sellers attending from all over the district. Our village is well known for both its strong community spirit and making any event into a social event, and the upcoming sale will be no different. There will be plenty of good company throughout the day, bar and canteen facilities on offer, and a club dinner after the sale. Because the stock and station agents are all generously donating their time, the usual commission associated with a clearing sale will instead be donated to the Australian Cancer Research Foundation. We are hoping to sell $100,000 worth of machinery.
I know that there are many worthy causes out there, and all of them are important. If you’ve chosen to raise money for cancer research, I just want to say thank you. Your hard work, and the dollars that you raise mean so much to every cancer survivor. You’re giving hope for a brighter and more certain future. If cancer research is successful in its aims, my own hopes and dreams will all be realised.
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