- Click Upload to add a new image from your computer.
- Crop image by moving the corners of the selection box
- Click Update to apply your changes. (Image file format JPG or PNG only).
Breast Cancer Trials is a group of world-leading breast cancer doctors and researchers based in Australia and New Zealand with a commitment to exploring and finding better treatments for people affected by breast cancer through clinical trials research.
Our research involves a unique collaboration between researchers, clinical trial participants and supporters, which has improved the treatment of breast cancer, led to changes in the way breast cancer is managed and has saved millions of lives through research collaboration.
Together we are grounded by one simple belief: We can and we will find new and better treatments and prevention strategies for every person affected by breast cancer that saves lives today, tomorrow and forever.
This year, it’s estimated over 20,000 people will be diagnosed with breast cancer. They will commence a journey none of them have chosen or expected, nor have their families.
Please help to identify new breast cancer breakthroughs in clinical trials research this year and save more lives.
It’s only because of people like you that our research is possible.
In this edition we give you an update on the important research you make possible.
She and her husband had two little boys who weren’t even at school yet. Laura had both her breasts removed and chemotherapy treatment.
“I panicked when I first felt the lump, but I convinced myself I was too young for it to be anything sinister.
Hours after my diagnosis, I was numb. I couldn’t eat, cry, sleep or even talk. As the days went on I felt a huge range of emotions. Fear was a big one. And sadness.
There were so many questions. Why me? How was I going to tell my kids? My mind was consumed with thoughts about what my future would bring and not seeing my babies grow up.
To me the ‘c’ word meant a death sentence and something I didn’t want to think about.
But the reality was my cancer was very aggressive. I chose to have a bilateral mastectomy with immediate reconstruction. Surgery was tough. I had to spend excruciating hours in nuclear medicine, having radioactive dye injected into my breasts so they could find my lymph nodes and test whether the cancer had spread.
Following my surgery I had a high risk of infection and was isolated from everyone for five weeks. Not always being able to see my kids and cuddle them every day was heart-breaking.
Then, on top of everything, I contracted neutropenia while I was going through chemotherapy. It’s a condition that reduces the number of white blood cells in your body, which makes it harder for your immune system to fight off infections. Everyone had to wear masks around me. It was very confronting and I felt so alone.
It sounds silly, but I sometimes felt that my emotions would be a burden on others.
When I felt like being sad, I would stop myself because everyone thought I was so strong and I didn’t want to let them down.
So I would make jokes at my own expense and then cry in the bathroom where no one could see me. I still do this at times.
People see the happy, easy-going Laura that they know and love. But there will always be an inner turmoil that will never go away.
I will never just be able to get on with life as normal. I have to find a new normal.
The treatment I had put me into early mesopause. I get hot flushes, have gained weight, and I will never be able to have another child.
But my surgeon is confident and so is my oncologist that the cancer is gone. And I am too of course.
I feel incredibly lucky and grateful to be here.
I’ve learned to see all the little things in my life with a new appreciation because I’m still here to do them.
Being alive is no longer a given. It’s a privilege, and one that I will never take for granted.
Will you help save more lives like mine? Please give generously to fund vital breast cancer trials.”