I have borne the repercussions of breast cancer my entire life. My mother, Vera lost her fight to breast cancer when I was 8 years old. She was a remarkable woman who always fought for a better life.

As a young woman, my Mother and father fled Czechoslovakia (now The Czech Republic) to escape political oppression and with a desired for a better life. 

I was a baby when mum was first diagnosed with breast cancer, but she recovered and it appeared life would carry on. However, the cancer returned, which proved to be too much for her marriage, which soon ended. Mum underwent treatment and I carry the memories of her illness, the side affects of all the treatments and having no hair.

Her concerned for me and the inability to return to her home country, spurred her on, she arranged for her Czech friends to take me into their care. When Mum passed away, Milos and Maree raised me as their own, despite the ramifications of the intense grief of a small child losing a parent. Our family bond is strong and loving, and I officially adopted Milos and Maree as my parents during my teen years.

I have carried a sadness in my heart over the loss of my Mum and have always been haunted by her illness. As a mother myself now, and older than Mum ever lived to be, I find myself  imagining the heartache she must have faced knowing she would leave me behind due to this terrible cancer.

No child should lose their parent from this disease.