Tarsha is every school mum, soccer mum, wife, daughter, sister, aunty, friend, warrior.
Running her world—daughters Lili, Frankie and Sarah—from point ‘A to B’ and everywhere in between. Fuelled by love, and coffee.
At 8.15am last December, amid final week school drop-offs and with the girls’ Christmas concert just hours away, 43-year-old Tarsha’s phone rang.
It was family friend and GP, Dr Brown, telling Tarsha she needed to ring her husband, Adam, and report together immediately to his GP clinic. A day earlier, she had undergone an ultrasound and two mammograms after finding a lump in her left breast.
Tarsha presumed it would be a blocked duct, having found one a year earlier on her right breast. Instead, her world was about to be tipped on its head.
“Dr Brown’s language was a bit more descriptive than normal,” Tarsha said. “He pretty much said it’s a car wreck and we will need to get the best possible team on board to sort out how we need to proceed to get the best outcome. I met with Dr (Christopher) Pyke the next day. There was no time to really process what was going on, it was so fast.
“Dr Pyke said we will have surgery in two weeks’ time. We were due to have a family holiday, so my sister ended up taking them, they had the best holiday in the world, they were totally spoiled, but it was hard for me to process.”
Immediately, Tarsha’s protective instincts kicked into top gear.
“Before they left, we had a booby party,” she said. “Because I’d always wanted little boobs, I was like ‘Guess what? This is happening!’ And so we had little booby cakes and we were like, ‘this is going to be so good’ and the girls were like, ‘okay’ (laughs).
“It’s not about me, it’s more about my kids, you know. They’re very resilient but I just wanted that process to be as smooth as possible. That was my biggest thing. I found out I had ‘positive negative’, and Ash (Mater Breast Cancer Clinical Nurse Consultant, Ash Mondolo) was amazing. She gave me resources, books and stuff for my kids.
“I went to lots of psychologists, lots of different people, did heaps of reading because my kids are my thing, you know, if they are okay then I’ll be okay. Adam was great, he kept saying ‘they’ll be fine, they’ll be fine’.
“In the end I just sat them down and said a story. I said ‘look, you know that mummy wanted small boobs and when they went in, they found something. It wasn’t good so they’ve taken it out, it’s all gone now, but I have to have some medication to make sure it stays away. This thing is called cancer and this medicine is like a broom, it goes through and brushes all my cells and takes all the bad things away.
“They were like ‘okay’. I said I might lose my hair, I might look different, but that’s going to be okay. I’ll still be same mummy. We went through all that and had a little party as well, because everyone loves a party! I didn’t want them to not have the language to be able to say, ‘oh, Mummy’s sick, but she’s going to be fine. The medicine’s just making her sick’.”
Ahead of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Tarsha has completed two full rounds of chemotherapy and 25 days of radiation treatment. She will require ongoing injections and monitoring, but her early detection has proven critical. Smoother days are ahead after her “bumpy year”.
Tarsha’s cancer journey has reinforced to her that life’s greatest joy can be found in the small things. She marvels at how her tight-knit family have rallied around her. She has been blanketed in love by her parents, Joanne and Michael, in-laws Rina and Nick and her siblings—Ben, Bridget and Brenna.
This entire extended family unit has provided meals, transport, and practical and emotional support. Mum has been a rock. Plus there’s been daily visits from her Dad. Ben attending four of her treatments. Treats and snacks placed in schoolbags; coffees dropped at the front gate; countless texts of support pouring in. Others she knows are on standby, if and when needed.
These small acts of kindness have interwoven with larger acts of love and support.
In the regional town of Springsure, her sister Bridget’s local footy club held a ‘pink’ day and raised over $10,000. At this year’s International Women’s Day Fun Run, Adam and the girls joined over 20,000+ participants in the Sea of Pink.
“I couldn’t imagine if I didn’t have the support that I have,” Tarsha said.
“I’ve been so blessed. I’ve found it early. It’s been a positive outcome. I feel so much gratitude because it could have been so much worse if I’d left it. I’m grateful I found it myself, they say in big boobs you can’t really generally find them, so I’m like ‘that’s a win’ (laughs).
“I’m so grateful we’ve had amazing people at Mater look after us.”
As a dedicated breast cancer care nurse, Ash Mondolo is passionate about early detection.
