Hi. My name is Janelle Madigan and I am a cervical cancer survivor. I took a pap test every two years during my adult life but was one of the unlucky few who still suffered a rare form of cervical cancer that developed while I was pregnant with my second child.  In 2009 at the age of 31, I was dia...

I had a brain tumour. They say they got it all. It was malignant. I am now undergoing radiotherapy each weekday to kill the remaining cells. I am 25. I had headaches which I'd seen my GP in the middle of 2008 about. She sent me off for a CT scan and the tumour was there but no one saw it on the...

The first 28 years of my life I was born in Albury, NSW in 1973. I am the only girl in our family of 4 children. Having three brothers has helped me to grow into the active, determined and independent young person I am today. From age 12 onwards, my mum raised us 4 kids as a single parent and gave ...

Life as a young adult with cancer Being diagnosed with cancer at just 23 came as a big shock to me since I thought I had years ahead of me to achieve my life goals. I had surgery to remove a swollen lymph gland that I'd noticed months earlier and was not expecting to be told I had cancer. The da...

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2007, at the age of 33. I must add it took a while to get to this point simply because my family GP refused to believe I had cancer because I was too young and had no family history. I really had to push her to give me a referral to see a breast surgeon. Loo...

I was diagnosed at 17, just as it was time to knuckle down in year 12. From the start of the year I was feeling tired and had constant headaches, but it just go to a point where I was spending every spare moment I had in bed. All of a sudden my neck flared up and was tender, lumpy and inflamed; I ha...

Having grown up with asthma and type 1 diabetes, several allergies and pretty much suffering every childhood illness that one can get, I used to joke with friends about what would happen next. I'd say 'next thing I get will be cancer'. Of course I never expected it to happen. I was 24 when my 'next ...

My story starts on Australia day 2006, I remember feeling fluey and things only seemed to get worse from there. I had aches and pains. I had to take two months off work to find out what was wrong; the doctors thought it was everything from pnemonia to asthma. It wasn't until I was rushed to the ER o...

It all started with the headache from hell. I woke up Tuesday morning but couldn't get my head off the pillow. I took Panadol and after finally getting to sleep, I woke up Wednesday feeling just as bad and very nauseous but somehow I slept through Thursday. Friday I woke feeling a lot better but sti...

Cancer is the biggest 'thing' that has altered my life. I first noticed myself feeling vaguely ill and tired on a holiday at Bribie Island after I finished high school at the end of 2006. Initially I didn't think much of it, figuring I was just overwhelmed from school coming to an end. Several month...

It was in mid-2008 when I was diagnosed with stage 2 Hodgkin's Lymphoma. It all started about a month before when I was sitting at work and noticed a lump, just above my collarbone. As soon as I noticed the lump I immediately thought something wasn’t right, I booked in an appointment with my G...

My name is Georgia Harvey and I'm 27 years old. I live in Canberra with my partner, Elliott. I'm a qualified solicitor who worked in a family law private practice for a year, then went into the public service. In April 2008, I was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma, a rare form of soft tissue/bone canc...

My story starts the Tuesday morning of AFL Grand Final week 2005. I'm 35 years old at the time. I have a ticket to the game but history will show I did not make it to that game. I had not been feeling 100% for a few weeks, low energy levels, weight loss for no reason, becoming more pale-skinned each...

In an instant, everything can change It was back in 2005 when my life began its change in direction. I began feeling unwell at the end of January, at first it was just a few problems here and there, but before I knew it, months had past, lots of doctor appointments later with new problems each we...

My name is Andrew. In 1998 I was diagnosed with having an anaplastic astrocytoma in my left frontal lobe (a type of brain tumour) at 23 years old. At the time, I was working as a commercial pilot for the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Aero Club in Western Australia. I subsequently had surgery at Royal Melbourne...