Kelly Towers has battled breast cancer for the past nine months. Above right Kelly last week, above left, Kelly Towers in March this year. 70883 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI
By Charlene Gatt
THERE’S light at the end of the tunnel for Kelly Towers.
After spending the past nine months battling breast cancer, the Werribee mum is re-growing her hair and has a spring in her step.
Star first met Ms Towers in May, just months after she was diagnosed with breast cancer, aged 36.
Ms Towers has since had radiation and will undergo a double mastectomy this Friday and a breast reconstruction six weeks afterwards, in what has become the final hurdle to her overcoming the disease.
“I’m a little bit anxious, but I’m positive about it. It’s coming to an end,” Ms Towers said.
“Originally, I was devastated.
“You just sort of think cancer and death but as soon as I spoke to the team at Footscray I was put at ease and I found out that things could be done and I would – hopefully – be fine at the end of it.
“I guess my biggest fears were for my wonderful husband and daughter, but also for my mother, who I care for.”
The diagnosis had also come as a shock because there had been no history of breast cancer in Ms Towers’ family.
“They did a bit of DNA testing and found that I was missing one of the genes and they believe that’s why I’ve got it.”
The diagnosis means that her two-year-old daughter, Ella, has a 50 per cent chance of getting breast cancer when she is older.
The same applies to all the other females in her family, who are currently being tested for the gene.
Ms Towers praised Footscray’s Western Hospital and Western Health’s BreastWest program, who looked after her every step of the way.
“They’ve been amazing, I can’t praise them enough. They give you so much confidence that everything’s going to be alright, and you need that when you go through this.”
BreastScreen invites women over 40 to arrange their free screening mammogram at Sunshine Hospital.
Phone 13 20 50 for further information or to arrange an appointment. No doctor’s referral is required.
