Kellie Salter never found a lump.
The one thing they always say to check your breasts for signs of breast cancer is a lump.
But Kellie never had one.
“I was sitting on the couch having a beer, wearing a singlet top, and I noticed a dent in my breast,” she said.
“I went to the GP, and she said she couldn’t feel anything, so I went and had scans, and did a biopsy right there and then.”
Kellie was diagnosed with breast cancer at the start of 2020.
The diagnosis came as a shock to her and her family.
“I went on my own (to get my results). I didn’t know what I was thinking, I just thought, no it’s gonna be nothing,” she said.
Unfortunately for Kellie and her family, her diagnosis wasn’t the only one.
“Three weeks after I got diagnosed, we found out that my Mum had ovarian cancer, and she was stage four,” she said.
“My sister basically took over mum’s care, and dad looked after me and we did chemo together.”
Over the next few months, they fought together, going through treatments together at GV Health, being there for every reaction they had.
Kellie’s treatment finished up in January 2021, after going through chemotherapy and radiation to kill the cancer. Sadly for her mum, her cancer was too far gone.
“Mum passed away in May 2021,” Kellie said.
Following her mum's diagnosis and passing, Kellie was determined to have her ovaries removed.
“They were reluctant to have my ovaries out at the time back then,” she said.
“And then this year, I spoke to the oncologist again, just with mum’s history, I wanted my ovaries gone.
“I just didn’t want to think about anything else, and I was not really doing any active treatment, so I had my ovaries out in May this year.”
With her treatment finished and still cancer free, life has been returning to normal for Kellie.
The Numurkah mum is back working, and spends her days chaperoning her two teenage kids around to their many sporting commitments.
But the battle never stops.
“I’ve got an alarm that goes off every morning to take a tablet every day, I have to take it at the same time every day, so it’s a little reminder that you’re still battling,” Kellie said.
Kellie has to be on that tablet for 10 years.
“A friend of mine, Louise Shannon, she was diagnosed with breast cancer a year after me, and we’ve had some conversations about how I really struggled to say the words breast cancer survivor,” she said.
“So we came up with breast cancer battlers.
“I feel like if I say survivor, or I survived, something bad will happen, I don’t know why.
“Whereas if I say I’m just battling along, we’re just breast cancer battlers, it just sits a little better because I’m not done yet.
“I’m not finished, like that alarm still goes off, I have an appointment on the calendar, usually every three or four months, and then you’re back at your 12-month review with breast cancer screening.
“You’re always battling.”
To help ladies like Kellie, the Ladies Who Lunch event will return to Shepparton this October, to raise funds for women’s oncology services in the Goulburn Valley, with all money donated locally to support women going through cancer treatment in the Greater Shepparton region.
Save the date for Sunday, October 27, and purchase your ticket on the GV Health Foundation website.
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