This tax time, we are sharing the story of Erin and her family.  

Make the most of every birthday and share it with those you love.  

That’s the advice of Erin, who’s deeply worried about how many birthdays she’s going to be around to share with her young children, Laila, Harlyn and baby Myles. 

We need to raise vital funds for cancer research to give people like Erin more birthdays with the people they love. 

Erin was 13 weeks into a greatly welcomed second pregnancy when she woke up one morning with a swollen armpit. Erin’s doctor sent her for an ultrasound, then a biopsy. 

Two days later, the doctor rang back. “Come into the surgery”, she said. “And bring your husband with you.” That’s when Erin knew it was serious.  

Diagnosed with hard to treat, triple-negative breast cancer, Erin's world changed overnight. What should have been a joyful time quickly became filled with overwhelming fear and impossible questions. Would their unborn baby survive? Would Erin survive? Would she be around to see her darling little girl Laila and her new baby grow up? 

Erin’s first reaction to her diagnosis was fear. 

“I was very, very frightened,” Erin recalls. “I didn’t know if we could even keep the baby.” 

Already tired by pregnancy and an active toddler, Erin was sick and exhausted. But toddlers don’t understand that their mums can feel sick and need to rest. Laila, then two-and-a half, remained her usual bouncy self. 

“Laila is too young to really know what’s going on,” says Erin at the time. “But she thinks I look pretty funny when I’m not wearing a wig or a scarf.” 

“Mummy funny hair,” Laila laughs, pointing at Erin’s bald head during treatment. 

The scars on her mum’s chest are a little more sobering, even for a two-year-old. 

“Mummy sore,”  says Laila sympathetically, pointing at the scars. 

Erin’s greatest fear is not being there to see her children grow up.  

“I take advantage of every opportunity and give both of my children my full attention,” she says.  

“I’ve become acutely aware that if I miss those chances, I might never get them again.” 

“I have moments where I worry that I won’t be around for them, that I won’t be here to see them turn 16, and 18 and 21. That I won’t be here for their graduations or weddings or for their children.” 

“They need me. It’s vital that I survive for them. I want to be here for all their birthdays, and have them celebrate mine with me.” 

This is what your gift to cancer research can do. It can give people like Erin more birthdays with her children and her wonderful, supportive husband, and all the people she loves. 

Erin gave birth to Harlyn just five months after her diagnosis. The very next week, she began intensive radiotherapy. 

“I found radiation therapy to be quite difficult”, says Erin. “The radiation therapy makes you tired and then with a newborn waking every three hours over night, I was like a zombie!” 

This year Harlyn will turn seven —that’s seven years since Erin’s cancer diagnosis. Erin has also had her third baby, a little boy Myles, a huge celebration for her family since the diagnosis. Erin isn’t counting the days since her diagnosis, or since her all clear, she’s counting the days to the next celebration with her family, and the next and the one after that. Erin wants to be around for every birthday, every celebration, every anniversary with her family. What mum wouldn’t? 

But the fear hasn’t gone away. 

“Because it was triple-negative I’ve got a higher risk of it returning,” says Erin, “It's absolutely petrifying. Every little niggle, and ache and pain, every time I get a headache or a sore back or anything, I go into panic mode. My greatest fear is that I will not be alive to see my children grow up.” 

No parent should have to live with that fear. 

Breast cancer remains the most common cancer in Australian women. One in eight Australian women will be diagnosed with it by the age of 85. 

Over 21,000 Australian's are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. And sadly, more than 3,300 people will die from the disease this year. 

Behind every statistic is a person, a family, and a future at risk. 

That’s why Cancer Council ACT is committed to funding critical cancer research, research that can improve treatments, increase survival rates, and give families more time together. Thanks to community support, huge advances have been made in many types of cancer, including breast cancer.  

Researchers like Professor Barbara Fazekas and her team at the University of Sydney, are making important strides in breast cancer research. Previously, Professor Barbara Fazekas has studied why breast cancer resists checkpoint therapy. Now, she and her team are taking the next step. They’re now focusing on analysing blood samples from breast cancer patients before and after treatment, using machine learning to find immune markers that predict how well a patient will respond. Their research could lead to better lab tests to help doctors choose the right treatment and new drugs that make immunotherapy work for more people. 

But there is still so much more to be done, and we can't do it without your help. 

For every research project funded, many others miss out—some of which could hold the key to the next major breakthrough that saves the life of someone you love. 

Please make a tax-deductible donation to Cancer Council ACT this tax time  to fund the cancer research that is so urgently needed to give families, like Erin's, more birthdays together. 

With your help Erin doesn’t need to fear the future—or leaving her children without a mother.