Vassie's Story
On the 21st of January 2013, the day of my sisters 41st birthday, our Dad was diagnosed with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer. I was holidaying in Hawaii with my husband and baby daughter Zoe who was 14 months at the time, and was six months pregnant to my second daughter.
As they say, one phone call can change your life, and this is exactly what happened in our lives. I called my sister in Australia to wish her a Happy Birthday, and asked how dad was doing after he had taken some tests for abdominal pains he had been experiencing from before Christmas. As soon as I asked my sister the question about the test results, I could tell from her long and awkward pause that the news was not good...
Hearing that Dad had a tumour in his Pancreas the size of a 20 cent coin, and some smaller tumours had metastasised to his liver, was like running a spear directly through my heart. I remember my knees going weak, feeling a cold rush of blood throughout my body and feeling short of breath. It was without question that our family returned home early from our trip, to be by Dads side and united with our family back at home during this time of uncertainty.
