Personal Stories

Colleen Thompson

I am a breast cancer survivor of 4 years. I was diagnosed at 34 in 2004 whilst breast feeding my 9 month old daughter Demi. I have a daughter Tess who is 9 & she was 5 at the time.

I had to have my left breast removed after a week of my diagnoses then followed by 8 months of chemotherapy. After my last round of chemotherapy I still felt ill and went to my local GP and discovered I was around 7 weeks pregnant. I gave birth to a healthy baby girl Polly.

When Polly was 6 weeks old I had a full hysterectomy as having my mum Judith pass away from breast & secondary ovarian cancer in 1985 and my sister Julie was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 37 and 5 months pregnant in 1999 and I am also a BRAC1 carrier. So I was advised by my oncologist and gynocologist that this would be the best thing for me to do to try to avoid the breast cancer returning. I went onto breast feed Polly for 6 months until I had my other breast removed.

I have since had a full reconstruction and thank my lucky stars that I am still here today to be able to support young women and to promote awareness for this terrible disease.

My father John has passed away June 2006 from Bowel cancer and his brother Alan passed away 6 weeks prior to him from bowel cancer. My mum’s sister Dorothy passed away from ovarian cancer 8 years after my mum.

I founded BICC for young women in Ballarat in 2004 as I felt there was a need for a group to support other women in Ballarat and regional areas. It is extremely important to have other women who are going through this journey to be able to support each other and to be able to share their own experiences.  

So please all young women out there you all know your own bodies more than anyone so if you feel a lump go straight to your local GP and have it checked out!