“I don’t want to scare people by sharing my story, but I want to empower them to know that it can happen to young people and whatever you need to do to feel reassured, just go do it straight away.”
This October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we are fighting to end the heartache for thousands of people fighting breast cancer.
Breast cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in Australia.
In fact, 1,720 Australians will be diagnosed and 265 will tragically lose their battle to this heartbreaking disease in October alone.
Jacqui, a survivor of aggressive HER-2 breast cancer, knows all too well the emotional and physical struggles that come with a life-changing diagnosis.
“This whole world I had no idea about opened up. Having cancer became my full-time job,” says Jacqui.
“I was in a permanent state of terror.”
Since her diagnosis at only 37 years of age, Jacqui has fought her way through 16 rounds of chemotherapy, 17 rounds of immunotherapy, 25 rounds of radiotherapy and a mastectomy. She faced every treatment alone due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Watch: Jacqui tells her heartbreaking breast cancer story
Thanks to Professor Yeesim Khew-Goodall and her team at the Centre for Cancer Biology, there is hope!
Professor Khew-Goodall has discovered a way to predict and stop chemoresistance in people fighting Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC).
“We have seen very promising results, with small molecules directed at our therapeutic target showing to restrict chemoresistance and repair the sensitivity of chemotherapeutic drugs,” says Professor Khew-Goodall.
TNBC generally affects younger women, and two thirds of this group will become resistant to chemotherapy.
Without a way to predict chemoresistance, a patient’s chance of survival from this devastating disease drastically decreases.
With the help of our generous donors, Professor Khew-Goodall and her team are about to undertake pre-clinical trials, getting one step closer to turning this discovery into a lifesaving treatment.
“If I was diagnosed 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago, I might not be here today,” says Jacqui.
“Research saved my life.”
It’s not too late to donate! Support Professor Yeesim Khew-Goodall’s lifesaving research and donate online here.
