Battling cancer — and crime
‘I’ve still got a lot of bad guys to lock up’ says detective who is determined incurable diagnosis won’t stop her
Detective Sarah Cato is battling incurable cancer — but that hasn’t stopped her from tackling major crimes. And her dedication to helping her community is behind a 2.9km swim across the Waitemata Harbour to raise funds for a charity that supports Kiwis living with incurable breast cancer.
Three and a half years ago Cato, then 31, found a lump in her left breast and tests confirmed it was cancer.
The mother of one had a mastectomy but a scan later showed the cancer had spread — travelling through her lymph nodes and blood into her bones.
Cato was then diagnosed with metatastic — also known as secondary — cancer, which is incurable. “It was a shock,” she said. “I was just at the start of my Criminal Investigation Branch career — I was winning at my career and I was winning at life, and then that threw a bit of a spanner in the works.”
Cato underwent five months of chemotherapy and then a month of daily radiation.
For the duration, apart from a few weeks at the end when she became fatigued from the intensive treatment, Cato carried on working.
She was involved in Operation Nepal — the investigation into the brutal sexual assault and murder of 69-year-old Cunxiu Tian in her family home in Te Atatu in January last year.
In May Jaden Lee Stroobant was jailed for life for the crime, described in court as “callous and depraved”.
Cato is also instrumental in the ongoing investigation into the abduction and sexual assault of an 11-yearold boy in Ranui. The boy was taken and assaulted after he got off a train at the Ranui Railway Station on November 17 last year.
Cato said giving up work while she had treatment was not an option.
“I’m a mother, first and foremost I wanted to be a role model for my daughter, I wanted her to learn resilience and teach her that no matter what you’re dealt with you can push on through,” she said.
“Operation Nepal was quite dear to my heart because I live in that community and my daughter attends school very close to the scene of the homicide — so I wanted to do the best I possibly could for the people who live in my community.
“I wanted to give Madam Tian’s family the best support I possibly could.”
There is no cure at present for metatastic breast cancer and Cato is realistic about that.
But it is treatable and she has vowed to do all she can to stay alive for as long as she can.
“I am now being treated for quality of life, not quantity,” she said.
“I just push on with what I am doing,” she said.
“It doesn’t matter how much it is — I’ve got a daughter and I’ve got to stay alive as long as I possibly can so I’ll do whatever that takes.”
Cato said she doesn’t dwell on her diagnosis.
“Inevitably there are some dark moments with this diagnosis — but I don’t focus on that at all, I’ve never had a timeframe, I don’t want one.
“Some people with metastatic breast cancer live five years — there are others who have lived way longer and I am going to be one of those.
“I’ve still got a lot of bad guys to lock up and hold accountable for their actions — and a lot of families to help.
“I have an opportunity every day to go into people’s homes and make
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