I was first diagnosed with early stage hormone receptor positive breast cancer in 2003 when I was 33. After 6 months of chemotherapy I was declared in remission and put on hormone therapy. A year later I had the Gold standard tram flap done where I elected to have my right breast removed too, and my stomach muscles brought up on both sides to form breasts. In 2009 I had my first relapse and found out the cancer had progressed to stage 4. It was in my lungs, liver, kidneys and wide spread in my bones. I felt let down by the system where the tumor marker blood tests had failed to pick up the cancer’s progression. After radiation and towards the end of 9 months of chemotherapy, I was experiencing breathlessness and dizziness. X-rays revealed that I had fluid building up in my chest cavity. A week and two operations later, they had drained 5 liters of fluid. After recovering, I was put on intensive hormone therapy. With a loving and supportive husband and three daughters still to raise, I threw down the gauntlet and was determined that I wasn’t going down without a fight! In December 2012 I, together with 11 other survivors undertook an expedition into Antarctica to raise awareness. Unfortunately in 2013 I relapsed once again and to everyone’s shock and dismay, my cancer had turned from being a positive to a triple negative disease. I slogged through 6 more months of chemotherapy and luckily responded very well to treatment. I’m stable yet again but remain on maintenance treatments consisting of low grade chemotherapy and Avastin, delivered intravenously on a monthly basis through a port. My experience with this disease has enriched me emotionally and spiritually beyond measure and made me a far stronger person than I otherwise would be today. I truly treasure every day, hour, minute, second. I recently started a blog where I am chronicling my experiences and if I can help just one other person, then it won’t have been all for nothing. You can visit it on http://survivingallodds.com

Sarah Avis
Pretoria, South Africa