Dear family and friends,

Please help raise funds to give me the gift of my lifetime - a beautiful glass photographic portrait of myself by world-renowned portrait and fashion photographer Robbie Merritt - and support the work of an incredible local charity - Cancer Support WA.

Please show your support by sponsoring my portrait.

Thank you

Cathy Brown

My Story: Cathy Brown

It is hard to imagine that in 1989, a tiny red dot on my arm could have changed my life so dramatically. I had always been very careful with my skin and very aware of melanoma.  I asked a doctor to remove the red dot and the next day he rang me up to tell me that it was a melanoma. I was sent to a plastic surgeon who took a wider excision. Life carried on pretty much as normal for the next 10 months, although I did have tightness under my arm. After consulting the doctor again, I was reassured that it may just be nerve damage from the surgery. My legs broke out in large red blisters and I was eventually diagnosed with a condition called Bullis Phemphigoid. When I enquired what this may be, the reply was ‘We don’t know, it usually happens to old people just before they die.’ As I was only 33, it was of real concern.

A couple of weeks later I realized the tightness under my arm had now developed to a large swelling – so back to the doctor where I was referred to Fremantle Hospital. I was told that I had a large mass under my arm and that surgery was urgent. I enquired about the Bullis Phemphigoid and the surgeon told me that my immune system was so ‘locked’ into fighting the cancer, the rest of my system was breaking down.

After surgery I was advised that 2 large tumours had been removed. My first question was – “How long do I have to live?” The doctor replied, “I’m not sure, maybe a couple of months, perhaps a couple of years.” Then I asked what would finally finish me off? “It will go to either your lungs, liver or brain. You will be referred to an Oncologist and he will monitor your progress. In your situation chemotherapy is unlikely to help. Since you are young, with a young family, you would be better off going home and enjoying whatever time you have left”.

Two days later it was Mothers’ Day and one of the hardest days of my life - facing my children (aged 6 and 8) and not knowing whether this was my last Mothers’ Day with them. What would they do next year when everyone at school was preparing gifts for their mothers? The pain in my heart was incredible.

When I went to see the Oncologist, he looked at my file, shook his head, clicked his tongue in a disapproving manner and simply said, “You’re in the hands of fate.” As fate would have it, I am thankful to those doctors for being so blunt with me and triggering off something inside of me that said “If fate has anything to do with this, I’m going to give it all the help it needs!”

I attended Cancer Support WA - it was wonderful to be able to relate to people who knew exactly how I was feeling. The meditation was fantastic and helped me focus my mind and release some of the stress, and to find a library full of books about healing was like finding a gold mine. I meditated every day and will do so for the rest of my life.

This started my healing journey where I decided to take charge of my life and not just wait to ‘see what happens’. I was like a sponge, exploring different healing modalities e.g. Reiki, meditation, counseling, naturopathy, support groups and exploring the power of the mind.

Several check-ups later, 22 months after having the secondary tumours removed from under my arm, the Oncologist informed me that he didn’t need to see me anymore. At every opportunity I told him of the complementary therapies I was exploring. As I left his office he said to me, “Don’t think that it’s because of anything you’ve done. There is such a thing as spontaneous remission.” I was highly offended. He was not interested in anything that I had explored and was completely oblivious of the dedication and commitment I had made towards my own recovery.

I volunteered for 5 years at CSWA until I was asked to facilitate the support groups and the 12 week Gawler Foundation course. I did training for 2 years for my Group Work Certificate and just love working with groups of people, assisting them on their journey with cancer. I have also done many years training as a Clinical Hypnotherapist which has given me incredible respect for the power of the mind. It is the mind that decides everything we do and I just love the saying ‘If you always do, what you have always done – you will always get, what you’ve always got. So if you need to your life to change, you need to change your mind.’ Most people are looking for someone else to ‘heal’ them but for me, the healing came when I looked inside myself and challenged and explored my own thoughts and beliefs.

Everyone’s journey is different and as cancer is multi-factorial, Cancer Support WA encourages people to explore all aspects of life – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Cancer has taught me so much about life and living … and I can’t believe it started with a little red dot on my arm.

Thank you,

Cathy Brown