October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, an annual campaign to increase awareness of the disease.  The aim is to help those affected by breast cancer through early detection, education and support services.  

Fleurieu app creator Susie Williams has a very personal breast cancer story, which began on her 40^thbirthday.

In the midst of a busy life, running a business and raising three girls, turning 40 nevertheless presented the chance to tick off a few medical checks - just because she could. This included a mammogram.

A few weeks later Susie got a call to say a check of her scans had shown some calcification, which should be tested.

“I was reassured that due to my age all was sure to be fine, but best we play it safe,” Susie says.

The youngest by far in the waiting room, she wasn’t really worried. But after a very long day she was given another appointment and told to bring her husband along—the very real possibility was starting to dawn on her.

After a week of waiting that felt like a month, Susie and her husband were told that having a mammogram just because she could had saved her life. But their learning curve into all stages of breast cancer had just begun.

“Our girls being young—three, six and eight—made reality pretty raw,” Susie says. 

“Besides putting on my brave face, when my world all of a sudden felt very fragile, telling the girls all was going to be fine and nothing to worry about was a hard one to pull off.  Some days I didn’t. 

“Even harder was telling Mum and Dad and my two older brothers.  It’s cruel to scare the hell out of your parents and siblings because of your health, I can still remember that day like it was yesterday.”

Susie says the weeks immediately following diagnosis were the most difficult.

“Those weeks of tests and decisions that your and your family’s lives depend on—it’s totally traumatic.”

More than six years on she has learned a lot about herself, about breast cancer and about life.

“I was one of the lucky ones, but you do make your own luck.  Don’t be scared of the what ifs—make your own health a priority, have your screenings and know your boobs.  

“Breast Cancer is most treatable when detected early.  You don’t have to have a family history, in fact you don’t even have to be a woman!”

For information and support:

Breast Cancer Network Australia 

Cancer Council 

McGrath Foundation

Breast Cancer Foundation