Hi, my name is Sarah Crimmins. At age 28, when my daughter was only 11 months old (in December 2008), I was diagnosed with Grade 3 Invasive Breast Cancer.

Since then I have had a mastectomy of my left breast, gone through IVF, 4 months of Chemotherapy, 5 weeks of radiotherapy, hospitalised with meningitis and just recently in December 2009, I underwent a prophylactic mastectomy of my right breast with immediate reconstruction and a reconstruction of my left breast using the latissimus dorsi.

At the start of my cancer journey I spent hours on the internet searching for similar stories to my own and in particular, photographs of those women so I could gain an understanding of what I was about to go through and although I found some, I didn't find many.

This is the main reason for my blog. I wanted to be able to share my experience and photographs of my journey in the hope that it will help someone else with the decisions that they are about to face.

This is the story of the worst year of my life, from finding the lump all the way to my reconstruction surgery and beyond.........

Please feel free to post some comments, actually i would absolutely love it if you would xo

Services Available

Suprisingly, with all of the information that we are handed at the inital stage of our diagnosis, there are a lot of services available that I had no idea about!

Some that i have learnt about are -

Southern Cross Community Healthcare - Through them i was able to have a cleaner come to my house once a week and help me with the housework. I can't tell you how great this was. Mat was great with helping around the house and all but with me sick and tired, and Macy being a normal messy 2 year old it was really hard to stay on top of things. When your a house proud person (as i am) it's frustrating to be sitting there looking at all of the things around the house that you need/want to do but you just arent well enough to do them. Unfortunately i didnt find out about them until just after i finished chemo however they helped a great deal through radio, the meningitis and then my reconstruction. Just having Robyn vaccum and mop the floors and do the dusting was an enourmous help. Their number is 1800 989 000.

Cancer Helpline - I did get a flyer about them in my first little 'So you have cancer....' pack but to be honest i didn't really think that much of it. It wasn't until later that my sister told me about a service they have whereby you can give them a call and ask them to put you in contact with someone your age that lives in your area and going through a similar thing. I was lucky and the nurse at my oncologist office put me in contact with Vanessa, who was all of those things for me, however for those of you that need this, call the Cancer Helpline on 13 11 20.

Support Groups - I knew that there was support groups around however at my age (28 at diagnosis) none of the support groups really suited me. To be honest i still haven't really found a 'support group' as such as does, however Vanessa, Dee and I have developed our own little informal support group as we all live in the same area. If anyone reading this lives in the Wollongong area, please send me an email (scrimmins@live.com.au) cause we'd love to have you join our little coffee sessions. For those interested in a normal Breast Cancer Support Group, there is an 'Illawara Support Group' which have meetings in Kiama, Warilla (both day meetings) and Wollongong - the last Tuesday in the month at the Congreational Church in Market street at 7.30. Anne Kershaw runs it and her number is 42842001.

The Young Women Support Group is organised by Lisa Athanassapoulos (02) 4226 6563 and is held on the 2nd Friday evening of each month at local restaurants. Vanessa, Dee and I attended this meeting once and it was lovely to meet all of the ladies from the support group however to be honest it wasn't what i was looking for so haven't attended since. I was needing to speak to women around my age who were going through the struggles with having a young child through the treatment, as well as the possilbity that we may not be able to have more/any children and the women at the support group were much older than me and had finished their families.

Aussie Breast Cancer Forum - This site is great because you can go on there whenever you want and participate as much or as little as you'd like but at the same time get an insight into what others are feeling and going through at the same time. The website address is www.bcaus.org.au.

Otis Foundation - As mentioned earlier in my blog this is wonderful! Basically the Otis retreats offer time out to relax, reconnect and regroup for those struggling with the challenges that come alongside serious illness. Each has been hand chosen for its location, in a beautiful environment which allows guests to draw on nature for strength and comfort. Partners, family members and friends are welcome to stay but often those who call on The Otis Foundation are looking for solitude or quality time with only those closest to them.

There are some more listed on my blog under the heading 'Useful Links' and there are probably a whole lot more than what i've put on here so if anyone reading this has more suggestions for me to add, please let me know.
Posted by Sarah Crimmins

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