SINGLE MUM HIT HARD BY DIAGNOSIS
CHELSEA Perrett and her seven-year-old son Zane are a tight team.
The Gold Coast mother has watched the BRCA2 gene wreak havoc through four generations of her family, leaving her with no network or support.
“It is just us, me and Zane. Family members have been hit hard by cancer and my own mother died from breast cancer at age 39,” Ms Perrett said.
So she was hit really hard when she was recently diagnosed with stage three HER2-positive breast cancer following a BreastScreen appointment.
As if the cancer news wasn’t traumatic enough, the 37-year-old was sacked via email from her private nursing job while she was on unpaid leave having a double mastectomy.
“I had no choice but to access my superannuation to keep Zane and myself through the many months of treatment,” she said.
“Breast cancer treatment is long and gruelling.
“I have been really tired. After the double mastectomy I had months of chemotherapy and radiation.
“As soon as I had finished radiation I had my ovaries removed as I have tested positive for the BRCA gene.”
Even though she was under 40, Chelsea was able to bulk bill all of her scans at BreastScreen. The final staging and grading of breast cancer often happens after surgery when pathology examines the size and aggressiveness of the tumour and the extent of invasion into the patient’s lymph nodes.
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