Sorby: Cancer Not A Death Sentence

Lawyer says illness can be treated; early detection is the best

Being diagnosed with cancer is not the end of the world, says cancer survivor Shayne Sorby. The General Manager for Legal Compliance at the Bank South Pacific (BSP) Life Limited, while sharing her story of survival, said: “It can be cured.

“Early detection puts you in a much better place to have options and get such diseases treated even if the symptoms don’t approach,” the 42-year-old lawyer said. Ms Sorby’s family had a history of cancer, but she did not let that get into her head. “Having a family history is not a curse, it can save you,” she said during the Fiji Law Society Pinktober event at the Paradiso Restaurant in Suva on Thursday. “My mum was also a cancer patient who survived and she is 81 years old now.” Ms Sorby said she never had any symptoms of breast cancer until the doctors recommended that she had a check-up overseas since cancer was in the family history. “I travelled to Brisbane for a conference and then went to a breast clinic for tests and the result was positive for cancer,” she said.

“It was a huge shock for me because I was in the middle of my career with my six-year-old daughter to look after.”

Taking in the life threatening news to account, she set herself a life goal – to move on with life.

“In 2017, I was again diagnosed with small traces of cancer at the place where I had breast cancer,” she said. “An aggressive surgery saved my life and I am so fortunate to survive cancer twice,” she said.

Ms Sorby highly recommends that Fijians and mothers today get a test done early so that it can be treated early. The Pinktober awareness campaign ends at the end of the month.

An aggressive surgery saved my life and I am so fortunate to survive cancer twice. Shayne Sorby Cancer survivor