Walking for a cure

Lorraine MacDougall, 63, couldn’t believe it when she was diagnosed with breast cancer just 10 weeks after her sister, Michelle, 56.

“The biggest shock was that we’d both been diagnosed so close together,” she says.

“There is no family history of breast cancer at all … so this was totally out of the blue.”

Lorraine had put off her regular mammogram because her husband was recuperating from an accident. When Michelle was diagnosed she thought “I’m a year overdue, I’d better go have my mammogram.”

“And lo and behold, I was diagnosed with a tumour,” she says.

“So I went from being her support person to [us] basically supporting each other then.”

Lorraine says the hardest thing was telling their elderly mother Joan the news.

“Mum was in her eighties and having one [daughter] diagnosed with it was bad enough, but to have to tell her that I was also diagnosed with it, that was very, very difficult.”

Both sisters required surgery, Lorraine twice, and chemotherapy. Both responded well and are now cancer-free.

“I class myself as extremely lucky because … had I had my mammogram when I was due, they probably would never have found it, and then I would have waited two years to have the next mammogram, and it would have been too late,” Lorraine says.

She is grateful to the doctors and nurses who cared for her and Michelle throughout their treatments.

“Everyone was absolutely marvellous,” she says.

“I just found them so caring and they were always there – if I had a question all I had to do was ring. They were just marvellous – very, very caring people.”

This Sunday, Lorraine and Michelle, along with their mother Joan and Lorraine’s daughter Kathryn, will be participating in the Mothers Day Classic, to raise money for breast cancer research.

Since its inception in 1998 the Mothers Day Classic has raised $5.7 million for the cause.

It has grown from 3,000 participants at the initial Sydney and Melbourne events to a truly national event. 12,000 participants are expected to take part at the event this Sunday in the Domain alone. Lorraine and her family will be walking at Parramatta.

One in nine women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. It claims over 2,800 lives per year, but the good news is that the mortality rate has fallen by 27 per cent since 1994.

Mothers Day Classic National Manager Sharon Morris says that the research conducted by the National Breast Cancer Foundation has played a major role in reducing this figure.

“It has led to better detection and treatment of the disease,” she says.

“[And] since we’ve come on board in 1998, the Mothers Day Classic raising money … really has made a huge difference in supporting research, treatment and detection.”

For the first time this year, there is no cap on the number of participants at the Domain event.

“For the last three years we’ve been at 9,000 participants in the Domain [but this year] we’re able to increase the capacity,” Sharon says.

“[People] can [also] register on the day at the Domain – All families and [their] friends should participate because it’s a great fun day.

“It’s obviously raising money for research but more importantly too it’s also creating awareness about the breast cancer disease.”

More than that, she says, the event is also a celebration.

“It’s a celebration of your mums, but it’s also to remember those that have been lost or taken by breast cancer, so it is a real focal point to celebrate and remember … and it fits beautifully into Mothers Day,” she says.

The poignancy of the day will certainly not be lost on Lorraine when she walks with her sister, daughter and mother on Sunday.

“Mum is the one that’s pushing us to do it,” she laughs.

“It’s lovely to have Mum still healthy enough to be able to do it with us … it means a lot for the four of us to be able to do it together.”

More information can be found at www.mothersdayclassic.com.au.