Survivor urges community to dig deep for Bloomhill

North Arm resident Helen Gibson is now breast cancer-free after a shock diagnosis in 2019, and is urging locals to dig deep this month and support a Sunshine Coast charity she credits with saving her life.

As an active member of the women’s rights advocate Zonta for 35 years, Helen had made breast cushions for women with cancer, but she never expected to be on the receiving end of such support herself.

Helen lived a busy life with her husband Peter on their farm at North Arm when she was diagnosed with cancer. She recalled the shock and denial she felt.

“Naturally, when I got the diagnosis, I was like everybody, I completely denied it,” Helen said. “I said to the doctor, ‘that can’t be right’, but I had to go ahead with treatments.

“We had just booked to go to Brazil for our son’s birthday, and I said, ‘no I can’t do that, I’m going to Brazil’. They said, ‘no, you’re going to hospital to have these treatments done’.”

Her surgeon, Dr Felicity Adams, was “wonderful”, Helen said. The operation was successful in removing the cancer and follow up checks gave Helen the all-clear.

She had chemotherapy as a preventative treatment, but it caused a condition that could have killed her if it hadn’t been picked up.

Her daughter, Sally, had connected Helen with Bloomhill Cancer Care.

“I went to Bloomhill on a number of occasions. I saw a nurse, and a psychologist who helped me through a very challenging time, and I had massages,” she said.

“The nurse was very, very helpful. In fact I credit the nurse with probably saving my life, because one time I was there, my temperature was up a bit. She said to my husband, ‘Peter, I think you’d better make sure that her temperature does not change tonight’.

“As it happened, it did. So I was into Emergency, at 11 that night. They had to give me a bag of blood. It turned out the chemo had caused a thing called GAVE Disease: a condition where the stomach wall starts to bleed.

“I was in hospital quite a lot for quite a long time. But if it hadn’t been for that nurse warning us what could have happened, I don’t know that I’d still be here today.”

Help Bloomhill support people touched by breast cancer

Chief Executive Officer Christopher John said Bloomhill’s wellness centre in Buderim supported more than 315 women with breast cancer diagnoses. “And we don’t see the demand slowing down any time soon,” he said. “October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and we are going all out in pink to raise awareness and support women across the Sunshine Coast impacted by breast cancer who seek our support.”

For this October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2021, Bloomhill is aiming to exceed our $25,000 target to provide care for 100 women through its Strength After Breast Cancer program. Any additional funds raised will continue to provide our growing need for specialist treatments for people with breast cancer. Donate at www.bloomhill.com.au

Helen Gibson, here with her grandson, is now breast cancer-free