Faye, left, Kay and Marlene, who has endured a number of surgeries. 70847 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI
By Vanessa Chircop
AFTER watching her father fight and eventually lose his battle with bowel cancer, Marlene Magor hoped that she would never have to go through the same thing.
Being proactive about her health, Marlene decided not to wait until she turned 50 for her free mammogram, instead having her first at 40.
Six years after her first mammogram, Marlene’s results showed an abnormality.
A biopsy was done and Marlene’s world was rocked by the diagnosis of breast cancer.
“I had ‘ductal carcinoma in situ’ (DCIS),” she said.
“I’d never heard of it, but soon learned that it occurs when the cells on the inside of the milk ducts became abnormal in shape and size, and begin to multiply in an uncontrolled way.”
And so Marlene’s journey began.
Three surgeries were unable to clear the cancer, with the problem being bigger than first thought and to Marlene’s dismay, a mastectomy was her only option.
The news was devastating.
“I thought I would be less of a woman,” she said.
“I can remember the breast care nurse trying to reassure me by saying ‘well at least you don’t need it anymore’ but what she didn’t realise is that we’d never had children so I never saw my breast in that light.”
Marlene feared her husband wouldn’t see her as a complete woman and that her sexuality would be affected.
“Thankfully I have a wonderful, loving and supportive husband who helped me deal with all these insecurities.”
It took a further four operations for a breast reconstruction but Marlene said she is satisfied with the result.
Despite her almost three year battle with cancer and eight operations, Marlene said there is light at the end of the tunnel but admitted cancer is never too far from her mind.
“You take a fair battering,” she said.
“But you pull myself back together and move forward.”
On Tuesday 4 October at 7am the Rotary Club of Point Gellibrand are hosting a Pink Ribbon Breakfast at the Royal Victorian Motor Yacht Club in Williamstown to raise money for breast cancer research.
The committee are calling on local business owners to request donations for raffle prizes for fundraising.
For more information about the event call Faye Lanyon from Ye Olde Suckers on 0409 677 127.
