Frontline Fighters: Belinda’s Breast Cancer Battle

Imagine if your job revolved around telling patients the importance of getting regular health checks and then facing the terrifying reality of having your world turned upside down in one of these appointments. This was precisely what happened to Belinda. Working as a Primary Health Nurse at the Royal Flying Doctor Service, Belinda knew the importance of getting regular health checks - including breast checks. It wasn’t until she was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer that the importance of these checks truly sank in.

The Biz Care team had the honour of chatting with Belinda about her diagnosis, being a nurse with cancer and how she keeps a positive outlook on life.

Biz Care (BC): Thanks so much for talking with us today, Belinda! I’m so glad to help share your story. Could you please tell me a little bit about yourself and take me through your diagnosis and recovery journey?

Belinda (Bel): No worries! I’m a Practice Nurse, and I work at the medical centre for the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Broken Hill. Part of my role includes doing care plans for patients and making sure that people have all of their checks up to date—for example, pap smears, mammograms etc.

Of course, as I was doing this one day, I thought I should really practice what I preach and get a mammogram. But everyone’s busy, we all understand that, and with COVID and everything, I struggled with time. I finally went for my routine mammogram in October because, in Broken Hill, we have to wait for Breast New South Wales to come to us.

There was nothing out of the ordinary during the mammogram, but I got a recall (due to an abnormality they discovered afterwards) for a second mammogram, and during that conversation, they suggested that I bring a support person if I wanted.

BC: So, you didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary?

Bel: No, and I did regular self-checks. So, I went back for my second mammogram and took my sister as my support person. Afterwards, they said that the radiologist would brief me and if he needed to, he would do a biopsy. I then had two people come in and do a biopsy.

BC: When they told you to bring in a support person, did that give you any kind of inkling that something was wrong, or did you just think it was standard practice?

Bel: It did raise a few flags, and I thought they must have found something that was big enough to see. That was my thinking at the time, and when they did the ultrasound, you could definitely see something – I knew what they were talking about.

Six days after my biopsy, I received a call from the doctor saying that I had stage two breast cancer in my left breast.

BC: Wow. What was your initial reaction to hearing that? Was it something that you had braced yourself for?

Bel: When I saw the ultrasound and when they did the biopsy, I had a bit of an idea that this could be cancer, so, you know, I was trying to prepare myself for that. But how does one even prepare for that? Anyway, then it was time to decide what was going to happen next.

I’m lucky enough to work at a doctor’s and have really good doctors here. I came back to work and told them what it was and got straight onto a breast surgeon in Adelaide, where I had surgery to remove the cancer.

BC: How did that all go?

Bel: Well, I asked the nurse to take a photo for me (they wouldn’t let me keep the lump), and I named him Leonardo, the Loser Lump of Lego in my left boob, because he actually felt like a lump of Lego!

BC: Brilliant – I love that!

Bel: So, after the surgery, there was a multidisciplinary meeting with some of the other doctors in Adelaide to determine what treatment I would need to follow up with. My cancer was oestrogen-positive and progesterone-positive but HER2-negative, so it was a good cancer.

BC: Why was it a good cancer? How can a cancer be defined as ‘good’?

Bel: They can actually cut it out if they catch it really early. Mine was so early, apparently, and I’m so lucky I caught it that early. So, when they cut that out, all I needed was radiation and medication afterwards that I’ll likely stay on for five years.

Because radiation can’t be done in Broken Hill, I decided to travel to Melbourne and have the treatment done at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

BC: So where are you now in your journey now that you’ve completed radiation?

Bel: Now I have to get yearly checks and six-monthly blood tests. In Broken Hill, I’ll get my bone density test done because the medication I’m on can sometimes cause some osteoporosis. I’ll then be on this mediation for five to ten years.

BC: Throughout the experience, did the whole thing feel a little surreal?

Bel: There was an element of “it can’t be me because I’m not sick,” and even when I felt the lump, I found myself wondering, “Are they sure that’s what it is?” In my head – and I know this is stupid because I’m a nurse and should probably know better – but a lump only ever felt round, like a pea, but mine was square and felt like Lego! So, I thought they must have gotten it wrong.

However, when I went to radiation, I was given advice from a friend who had been through a similar scenario. She said, “Don’t go in there and be boring. Go in there and make people smile.” I went to this website that I love that does a lot of 60s clothes. There were some beautifully patterned dresses – like ones with flamingos – and I found that every day the nurses loved to see what I was wearing and what shoes I would be wearing with it!

I also wanted to treat my radiation as anything but cancer treatment. Ambra – my son’s girlfriend – would come to the appointments with me and then we would do things like go to the hairdressers, out for brunch or lunch, visit the theatre and usually we would end up shopping! Her, my boys, and my grand-fur babies helped to keep my spirits up.

BC: I’m sure they would have loved that! As a nurse who works with sick patients, I’m sure you can relate that it’s nice to have some brightness in an overwhelming environment.

Bel: Yes, definitely. I’m the same at work; I’ll always wear different scrubs with different patterns and colours. From Christmas prints to Frozen – I’ve got everything. Today I’m wearing my St. Patricks Day scrubs! That’s why I got so excited when I found the pink scrubs, and I’ll be wearing mine a lot at work and in the emergency department where I work in.

BC: Circling back to the cancer for a moment, do you know why you had it? You mentioned previously that you had no family history, so was this something that was just completely random?

Bel: You never know when it’s going to happen – it came out of left field for me and was completely random. It can be anything, though. I know that I don’t have the gene that mutates, though. I went through a study as I was worried about what it would mean for my kids and grandkids and found out that I didn’t have that gene which was great. Even though they’re boys, at least 20 men a year are still diagnosed with it.

BC: Would you be able to explain the impact your diagnosis has had on you personally and professionally?

Bel: I had to take five weeks off work, and for anyone who knows me, I work A LOT! As someone with three jobs and working that much, it’s really hard to stop your life and go elsewhere for treatment. My eldest son also lives in London, so that was hard for him to decide if he needed to come back home or not.

BC: You have mentioned that you want to become more vocal in spreading the word and raising awareness; what does that look like for you?

Bel: Any chance I can, I’m asking patients when their last mammogram was and being more proactive in booking them in. A lot of them say that they don’t have any symptoms or family history, and now I’m able to say that that was the same with me and share a little about my story. When it comes to cancer, I know many people try to keep it quiet, but Broken Hill is a small town, so I just put it out there.

I want to get “check your boobies” embroidered on the back of my pink scrub top. This way, people can have a bit of a giggle, but it can then spark that initial conversation and become a talking point.

In conclusion

It was so wonderful to talk to Belinda, who has experienced first-hand what it’s like to have breast cancer and how she wants to spread the word. If you want to become a conversation starter like Belinda, grab a pair of pink Biz Care scrubs from your closest distributor today!