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Tanya is one of those people that when you meet her you are instantly drawn to her magnetic personality and want to make a best friend of her; she is beautiful, intelligent, warm, and wise. Her perspicacity is complemented by her determination to rise above all of life's challenges, with nothing but her strength of character shining through. This is a disposition borne from being tested by fire and in her Tanya's case has come from conquering a battle with cancer.
A young mother with four small children, Tanya affirms that some of her most precious moments with her new babies were with them at her breast. The overwhelming sensation of bonding with her fourth child, six weeks old Taro, overruled her concern of what she thought was a blocked milk duct. At 31-years old, Tanya was fit and healthy and even the sight of the lump in her breast growing bigger by the day did little to persuade her that something was wrong.
With no sign of the lump going away and at her mother's insistence, Tanya paid a visit to her family doctor who called for a scan and a biopsy. Although the pain of the memory has blurred with time, Tanya still remembers the doctor breaking the news to her. Although just seconds passed between him saying 'I have bad news' followed by 'you have breast cancer', for Tanya it felt like an eternity. At his words, she was immediately transported to another plane. It was quite eerie and felt as if she was looking down on the scene in the consultation room. The doctor was talking; her husband was frowning; but Tanya was floating … fearful of what she would have to face if she were actually present in the room.
Eventually Tanya and her husband Ché left the doctor's rooms and made their way home; all the couple could express was fear, pain, confusion and anxiety about how the news would inevitably shape their future. A future that until that moment had been full of the promise of joy, hope and the delight and wonder of life.
A further appointment with a breast cancer surgeon revealed more bad news for Tanya – the lump in her breast had grown to the size of a golf ball, measuring five-point-five centimetres. This pointed to the aggressive nature of her cancer. At the doctor's next words, Tanya felt herself journey to the edge of her life; he suggested that the cancer may have spread to her lungs, stomach and liver. Providentially further tests would reveal that her organs were clear, and, to the doctor's surprise, so was her blood.
Nevertheless, Tanya remained convinced that her cancer was the equivalent of a death sentence, and braced herself for a prognosis of only a few months to live. Tanya may have been ready to give up on life, but life was not ready to give up on her. Her doctor was concerned as his trained eye noticed Tanya's crushed spirit, and encouraged her to remain hopeful about her prognosis. The diagnosis had left Ché winded, and as a lawyer he resolved to find evidence of what lay ahead for his precious wife. His research presented positive recovery statistics and it seemed he could afford to exhale, for what seemed like the first time since Tanya's diagnosis.
Even so, Tanya still remained unconvinced about her future and it was a time when nothing added up for her. She was unable to recognise truth, for it was defaced by perceptions and opinions, and further disfigured by confusion and bewilderment. As is the case for many people, the reality of Tanya's diagnosis did not fit into her misconceived belief – that as a young, healthy, fit and clean living woman, she was precluded from getting cancer.
Grudgingly Tanya had to give up breastfeeding in order for her chemotherapy to begin. She resented that her treatment would come at the expense of her newborn baby, precluding her from that which had been afforded to her other children.
It was only well into her second treatment, six weeks after being diagnosed, that Tanya's denial begun to dissipate. The hand of fate nudged her along her journey under the guise of an ordained meeting with a fellow cancer patient who had a monumental impact on Tanya. The remarkable words of truth spoken of and into Tanya's personal situation were worth their weight in gold; she explained to Tanya that to conqueror the battle Tanya would have to pick-up her weapons and fight. This simple, yet profound statement was the first thing that had made any sense to Tanya since her diagnosis.
Tanya realised that the road before her presented her with two choices: to be the victim or the warrior. Bravely she chose to fight, and kept fighting until she was named the victor. After four cycles of chemo, Tanya was given the mind-blowing news that the tumour had completely disappeared, and for the first time Tanya dared to embrace the hope of a full recovery.
At this point the only remaining obstacle yet to be overcome was a lumpectomy and eight weeks of radiation to be administered on a daily basis. Armed with a breastplate of hope coupled with her newfound strength and determination, Tanya bravely completed this part of her journey with grace and fortitude.
Like any princess-warrior, Tanya had more than conquered: she had reached a 97% recovery rate, an outcome that only 5% of people with her diagnosis ever achieve. Tanya's fighting spirit starts and ends with one word, family, and her secret weapons come disguised in denim dungarees and innocent pigtails.
Three years later, Tanya is in the clear and lives her life with gratitude and perseverance for all that the battle with cancer has taught her. Her favourite moments in time are those spent outdoors with her husband and their four beautiful children where the family continue to create special memories.
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