Lana’s strength through cancer: inspired by her children and supported by Camp Quality

“I went to the doctors with a lump in my breast in 2020 and was dismissed. I was told that I am too young to have cancer, and the lump is ‘just’ hormonal. The doctor was unwilling to check me over. He just dismissed me.”

Lana was a busy single mum, working 30 hours a week as a vet nurse, trying to manage everything from groceries to getting her two daughters, Ruby and Billie, to and from school.

“Some nights, I would not get out of work till 7:30 pm, only to return the next morning to open the clinic by 7:30 am. I relied a lot on my parents to help me out with the girls. We have always been very close.”

When the doctor told Lana that the lump in her breast was nothing to worry about, she believed him, diving back into her busy life, until almost two years later when she hurt her back at work.

“I slipped in a puddle of water at work, and I just felt something shift. It was a remarkably different pain to anything I’d ever felt before. Being a single mum, there is always that mentality that there is no time to be sick, so I just assumed I will feel better next week. Next week came, the pain was getting worse and so forth. I finally got an MRI done, which confirmed I had fractured my L1 vertebrae. I had a large mass in my breast and several other masses surrounding my lower back and hips.”

Lana didn’t have any other symptoms of cancer, other than the lump in her breast. She’d had a sore back for a while but thought that was one of the downsides of working in a veterinary practice where you are constantly bending to look after the pets.

“My GP wanted to get me into hospital the following day so I could start treatment immediately, but was finding it hard to do so, as I had not had a biopsy yet. Two days later, I was admitted to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital for an unstable back fracture, which gave me a way into the system to get treatment as soon as possible.”

After seeing the doctor, Lana knew it was going to be extremely hard telling her family she has cancer. Her life was so busy, and she knew she could not afford to have any time off work. She wondered how she could keep her kids’ lives and her job on track with this scary new reality.

“We had a family lunch organised at my mum and dad’s house that weekend. It was my dad’s birthday so the whole family was going to be there. I told my cousin the day after my diagnosis, and she said she’d come to lunch to support me. When I told my family, it felt like I was breaking their hearts. My dad is so stoic. He just knew he had a job to do and that was to take care of his family. My mum and I are best friends, so the news really hit her hard. We have always been close, but this made us even closer. It was agreed that it would be best for the girls and I to move back home.”

Lana and her parents decided it was best not to tell her daughters, Ruby and Billie, about the diagnosis until they had all the information from the specialists so they knew what treatment would look like.

“The kids knew my back was sore. They had known for quite a few weeks because leading up to it, I just couldn’t manage anything. We told the girls that I had to go into hospital so the doctors could fix the fracture in my back.”

“I was given four months to live and was told that I wouldn’t make Christmas. I really needed to work out how I was going to tell the girls that mum’s got cancer but also convince them that I am fighting really hard and we’re going to get through this.”

Billy was only six at the time and was excited to spend time with her grandparents, while 12-year-old Ruby could tell that it was more than just her mum’s back. This was made even worse by the Covid-19 restrictions, which meant that they were only able to visit once in the 10 days that Lana was hospitalised.

In hospital, Lana was given crutches and told that she was not allowed to weight bear had to stay off her feet as much as possible. The doctors told her that her hips were so weak, they could break at any time. Lana’s treatment started with two rounds of radiation, combined with an injection to stop her estrogen production and put her into a chemical menopause. Once she completed the radiation, she began taking oral chemotherapy and was finally able to go home.

“After the first week of being in hospital, it really hit me. I thought to myself, wow, I am really sick, and I’ve got a big battle on my hands. I’ve always been someone who is fiercely independent but then all of a sudden, now I’m completely dependent on my family.”

“When I came out of hospital, I had an appointment every day that week to see the five specialists in my team. They would each give me the information I needed to find out exactly what I had to do to fight this. After that, I knew I was ready to tell the kids. It was a struggle holding off telling the girls when I could see Ruby deteriorating. She knew something was seriously wrong. It was just torture watching that. And then it was just torture telling them.”

Lana reached out to Canteen, a charity that supports young people impacted by cancer, to get some counselling sessions for Ruby. While they were at the center for a session, one of the staff suggested that they also register with Camp Quality. Lana immediately found the website and filled in the form while they were chatting.

Lana, Ruby and Billy went on their first Family Fun Day to Time Zone, and they spent the day having fun together, bowling and playing laser tag.

“That was our first ever introduction to what Camp Quality was and we were blown away. It was incredible. Being a single mom and living week to week, there was no way I would’ve been able to afford to do all these fun things with the girls before my diagnosis. I don’t have the support from their dad. It was tough to even go to the movies, for example, let alone go to Time Zone for the day. The girls and I had so much fun.”

After a few day events including a day sailing on the Swan River, the family booked in for a Family Camp at Como. Ruby and Billie loved the kids-only activities and the whole family enjoyed feeling part of a community who understood the battle they had been through and the uncertainty about the future that they still faced.

“I know it’s sad that we all share the unfortunate common reason for being there, but it was nice to be able to be understood without having to explain yourself.

“I’ve got great family support from my family and friends. I have a really tight bunch of people that love and care for the three of us and would do anything for us. But no one completely understands exactly how I was feeling or what I was going through. Even though they try to, you just can’t fully comprehend something if you have never lived it before. These Camp Quality families have lived it.”

“Being part of the Camp Quality family community is one of the best parts of my diagnosis. Camp Quality is just so generous and so nice. We always have so much fun and we walk away with the best memories together.”

When Lana was chatting to her mum about the camp they had been on, her mum reminded her that she has been donating to Camp Quality for over 20 years. When she was deciding on a charity to become a regular giver for, she chose Camp Quality after reading about all the fun experiences they provide for families in need.

Two and a half years since her diagnosis, Lana is still undergoing treatment for her breast cancer and remains confident that she will beat it.

“Someone with my diagnosis, on average, doesn’t make it more than five years, but doctors also said to me that I wouldn’t make it to Christmas, and I’ve made three. I realise their information is based on statistics, but for me, I just don’t see myself falling into those numbers.”

“I lost my job, my career. I was told I would never be able to work again. Now I just embrace being with the kids every day and I feel blessed for the little things like picking them up and dropping them to school every day; this is huge for me. That’s something I wasn’t doing before. I was working always to earn all this money to support us but at the same time, we were missing out on quality time together as a family.”