SECOND CHANCES
For much of her life, Lisa has spent time living overseas and was living in New York City when the pandemic struck. Not only were her health screenings put on hold but also her modelling career and the opening of her art gallery. She spent the next few years isolated with her dog in a big city that ‘does sleep’. Following the death of her beloved dachshund, Lisa returned home to Australia to see her family, race yachts with her dad, and recoup from the stress of the past few years.
While out at a local shopping centre in QLD, Lisa spotted a breast screening clinic and decided to get a mammogram. A few weeks had passed when she received the news that there were some calcification specs detected on her breast and a further scan and biopsy would be required.
‘What are the chances of this being cancer?’ Lisa asked, to which the nurse replied gently, ‘There is something [in her breast] that is more concerning.’ More medical staff came into the room for more eyes and Lisa was informed that she would definitely need a biopsy.
After a few weeks passed waiting for the biopsy results, her mum flew into Sydney from the Whitsundays for the daunting appointment. Lisa’s mum held her daughter’s hand as the medical staff informed them that the cancer was stage 2 Breast Cancer. Lisa's mum turned to look at her, embraced her, and in tears said ‘I wish it was me.’
‘This broke my heart’.
My mum lost her sister to breast cancer and now her youngest daughter has it.
Lisa described how things change after a cancer diagnosis, Lisa describes it as being 'crazy how your perspective changes in an instant. You start noticing things you never noticed before. Clouds never looked so pretty, the sky never looks so blue, and birds never sounded so pretty.'
Following her diagnosis, Lisa made the decision to see Dr. Sarah Forsyth at The Royal. ‘As soon as I met her I fell in love with her, I knew in my heart of hearts I had found my person.’ Lisa was booked in for a lumpectomy with Dr. Forsyth and would have to wait a few weeks to find out if the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes.
Lisa’s surgery was booked for early December 2022, exactly 1 year since her dog passed away in her arms from cancer. ‘My dog was my ride or die and I felt his spirit.’ She knew in that moment, that he was watching over her.
It was incredibly important to Lisa that the surgery went well as she was hoping to still race The Rolex Sydney to Hobart yacht race with her father. Lisa asked Dr. Forsyth if it would be possible to attend and Dr. Forsyth made sure it would happen.
"Dr. Forsyth bent over backward to make sure I could live out my dream."
Lisa would often go into the hospital for various scans and appointments and every single staff member she interacted with "felt as though they were my therapist in a way, and my friends, my support. Everyone that works at The Royal was always so sympathetic and went out of their way for me. They make every person feel like the only person".
Once the results of her surgery came back, Lisa was given the incredible news that the cancer had not spread to her lymph nodes. Overjoyed, Lisa was able to avoid chemotherapy and would only require nineteen rounds of radio therapy and hormone blockers for five years to suppress the cancer from returning.
Hormone blockers, while life-saving, do put a woman into an early ‘fake’ menopause and so the best course of precautionary action for a woman eventually wanting children is to do an egg retrieval and freezing procedure.
Lisa worked closely with Professor Bill Ledger and the Fertility Research Centre team to have her eggs collected - a free service provided for people undergoing treatment for cancer.
She did three rounds of egg collection.
Lisa is forever grateful for the care she received at The Royal that she ‘just wants to give back.’ With her love for incredible artwork and skill in opening art galleries, Lisa has future plans of curating a program for The Royal. The goal is to have brand-new, uplifting, and calming professional artwork installed in all the hallways and rooms of the hospital. Anyone that walks through those hospital doors will benefit from this program.
‘Art is essential, everyone deserves the healing benefits of art, especially in public hospitals. I'm not going to quit until I accomplish that!'
