Kim's Story
Kim was living the dream before her shock cancer diagnosis.
The high-flying achiever – a teacher by profession, business owner, commercial farmer, former elite athlete and current sport management leader – was at the peak of her sports management career and loving her life!
“Everything was going so well. My life felt like a pinch-me-kind-of-thing,” Kim says. “So when this cancer diagnosis hit, it was like: oh, that wasn’t in my plan. Like any cancer diagnosis – it was a total shock.”
Kim certainly had no game plan for how to react to the news that she had grade 3 breast cancer. Following her most recent mammogram, Kim was told she’d have to travel to Melbourne for ‘another test’. The imaging showed a lump, and Kim was immediately sent for a biopsy. She was later told she would need to bring her husband back to Melbourne for the results the following week.
The problem was that Kim and her husband’s farm, close to the NSW border, was more than 3 hours drive from Melbourne. She asked if they could get the results via a telehealth appointment.
The doctor’s response filled her with dread. “No,” they told her. “It’s quite serious.”
The following week, Kim had the dreaded diagnosis of breast cancer and a week later she had lumpectomy surgery. Kim's gruelling cancer journey had begun.
First, it was chemo. Four rounds, three weeks apart. And each time, she had to make the long journey to and from her regional farm to Melbourne.
Kim experienced a range of debilitating side effects. Hair loss. Nausea. Exhaustion. Fluctuating body weight. Menopausal symptoms. Then, the next chapter on her fight against cancer was looming. Radiation. Six weeks of it. In Albury. It was closer to home, but not close enough.
“I couldn’t stand the thought of wasting two-and-a-half hours travelling back and forth for radiation,” Kim says.“I also knew I’d need someone to drive me there and back. I like to be independent and I don’t like to ask people to help.”
As Kim was wrestling with her treatment choices, a friend – also undergoing a cancer journey – told her about Fight Cancer Foundation. She had no idea what we did for people undergoing cancer treatment.
But once she learned about Hilltop, our Accommodation Centre close to Albury Wodonga Cancer Centre, she immediately reached out. Thankfully, we were able to provide her with a room.
Instead of enduring long, tiring drives to and from her regional farm to Albury for treatment, Kim found a welcoming home away from home – a place where she could completely focus on herself and getting through her cancer treatment.
“In retrospect, staying at Hilltop was probably one of the most critical pieces of my recovery because I felt like I could be independent and slightly selfish because I would go have my treatment and then I could come back to my room and have a nap if I wanted to. (And I often needed to after radiation!)”
She was also incredibly grateful that Hilltop lifted an enormous financial burden from her family.
“If I had had to pay for hotel accommodation during those six weeks, I would have felt really bad that I was draining the family’s financial resources.”
So, for six weeks, Kim spent every weekday at Hilltop and would return to the family farm for the weekends. While she treasured her time at home, Kim loved that while at Hilltop, she had the solitude to decide how to spend the hours outside of treatment.
“In those moments, I didn’t have to be a mum or a high school administrator. I could really concentrate on myself and getting rested.”
Kim is so grateful to Fight Cancer Foundation that she is now comfortable enough to share her story with the world. Because of the generous donations of our supporters, we were able to provide Kim with a safe, comfortable home away from to recover while she went through her gruelling treatment.
