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

Sharon deRosario

My Story

It was March 2003 and a couple of months away from my 35^th birthday...STOP—hold those birthday plans!

You are going to be in hospital.  What?

Right breast removed? Huh? 

Lymph nodes removed?  Right... 

Focus all your energy into healing?  Check. 

And so my journey with breast cancer began...

I had already sought out an excellent naturopath by the time my surgery was carried out and had started a regime of homeopathic tonics – I felt fantastic.  My wonderful team of people who would help me through this journey had already started to form.  You do need the knowledge and expertise of several specialists to enable you to find that mind/body/soul balance that is critical.  I believed the best course for me would be a combination of conventional medicine together with complementary therapies and a lot of dedication on my part.

Finding the right words to tell the beloved people in my life that the next step after surgery would NOT involve chemotherapy, radiation and hormone treatment was soul-wrenching.  Call it “my inner knowing” - it was telling me to follow my belief that I would have to do it my way and be prepared to stand by my decision.  I found the words, and gave myself the opportunity to cleanse my body through naturopathy, nutrition and a whole lot of humour and living life.

3 years later and an annual mammogram revealed another lump:

 “You’ve been really unlucky Sharon.  We’re so sorry.”  The fear that I felt being told the first time suddenly resurfaced and rushed through my body once again; this time with an impact of a freight train. 

You do believe you’re cancer free. 

You do believe you’ve beaten it. 

You do believe that the worst has already happened. 

IT CAN’T BE!

I found the strength again and overcame breast cancer a second time.  This time I chose radiation treatment after surgery and found a wonderful clinical nutritionist - I needed to get my body back to its optimum healing state.  It meant downing handfuls of pills every day for a couple of years until I could feel my energy returning and best of all, the proof was in the test results.  I have always balanced my good habits with a few wicked ones along the way – I could never deprive myself of champagne & chocolate entirely!  And that is how I will continue living my life, perhaps with fewer wicked vices than once upon a time – can you say Party Girl...?  Well, I’m certain I’ve had my share of fine champagne.

Some days I do feel like I have an endless abundance of energy, positivity and love and I see it reflected back at me in the people I’m closest to.  I have a lot to be thankful for and I make a point of acknowledging these gifts each and every day.  I’m in love with life and a special someone – there is a lot to smile about.

There have been many significant moments in my journey and one that has had the most profound impact was completing the 12-week self-help wellness course developed by Ian Gawler in July 2009 at CSA.  It helped me peel back layers of myself emotionally and spiritually, which allowed me to recover physically.

Thanks to CSA I found all the resources I needed to find peace and harmony in a turbulent time in my life.

Thank you

Sharon deRosario