By Charlene Macaulay
Susan Grant was 38 years old and a single mum when she found out she had breast cancer in 2008.
The Werribee resident had gone in for a check-up three months earlier when she found a lump on her breast and although she was given the all-clear at the time, she returned for more tests after she still felt discomfort.
It was after a fine needle biopsy, followed by a core biopsy, that she was diagnosed.
“I remember when I walked into the room, the doctor was sitting in there but so was a lady with a pink book – the breast cancer colour – and I thought, ‘oh my God’.
“I went to the doctors by myself, because I thought they were going to say it was fatty tissue or something.
“When you hear cancer, you think you’re going to die, but I thought ‘I’ve got a daughter, I’m 38, I want to do stuff with my life and I need to look after her’.
“Whatever the doctors said to do, I did it.”
What followed was a lumpectomy, aggressive chemotherapy and radiation.
“I had chemo for three months and I lost all my hair, I was sick as a dog,” she said.
“I had all the side effects – I was so nauseous.”
However, the treatment was successful and Ms Grant has been cancer-free ever since.
This weekend, she will join her team Strive to Survive and do laps of the Victoria University Athletics Track for the annual Wyndham Relay for Life, which raises money for the Cancer Council.
“I like to get involved … to donate when I can, to help when I can.”
