By NATALIE GALLENTI-BREKALO
EVERY moment of every day Tracy Clery remembers her beautiful and dignified daughter Kelly.
The Altona Meadows mother recalls Kelly’s laughter and smile and her bravery – even in her final moments.
But despite Mrs Clery’s grief and that of her beloved family, the courageous mother is on a mission to raise awareness of the often unrecognisable signs and symptoms of bowel cancer.
In early 2013 Kelly, 21, flew back to Australia to celebrate the birth of her first nephew and it was then that she began having trouble with regular bowel movement.
She visited her local GP for what she thought would be a routine check-up and was told she would have to undergo a colonoscopy.
On 9 May, Kelly and her parents received the devastating news that a cancerous tumour was detected during the procedure and she required a colonoscopy bag and six weeks of intensive chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
“The first time we heard she had cancer, we couldn’t believe it … you can’t believe that your child has cancer,” Mrs Clery told Star.
After the first round of treatment, scans revealed the tumour had shrunk. However, months later doctors informed them that the tumour had now metastasised and it would be too dangerous to operate.
Kelly endured two more rounds of chemotherapy treatment in which she suffered a mild heart attack and blood clots in her lungs. She had dropped a staggering 30kg but remained her brave self and always thought of the wellbeing of her family and friends throughout the agonising experience.
In December last year, doctors said there was a chemotherapy trial that might prolong her life but would have harmful side effects. It was then that Kelly decided she had had enough.
“She looked at me and said, Mum I’m sorry I can’t do it. It’s going to make me sicker and I am so tired I can’t keep fighting anymore.“Kelly thought about her family until the end … she planned her own funeral and wrote us a letter.
“We had her at home at Christmas and we were with her every step of the way.
“She never lost her dignity.”
And even when doctors gave Kelly the prognosis that she had two to four days to live, she told her family they had weeks to spend with her.
Now the heartbroken mother and father, Jim, and loving sisters and brother are hoping to raise awareness of bowel cancer and that it isn’t “an older person’s disease”.
“If you have trouble going to the toilet check it out.
“Young kids think it won’t happen to them, but it can … we had no family history of bowel cancer.
“If my story can help anyone then I think Kelly would be proud.”
You can follow Kelly’s Story on Facebook and help raise awareness of bowel cancer.
