Around 50 people rode a rollercoaster of emotions when Warracknabeal cancer survivor Karen Bibby shared her journey as part of Daffodil Day today.
“I’m sure you’ve all been touched by cancer in some way. Daffodil Day is a symbol of hope for a cancer-free world,” RNH Wellbeing Coordinator and event organiser Karen Miller said as she welcomed the crowd.
Sharing her story with grace, gentleness, and humour, Karen Bibby shared how she was packing to go on holiday to Sydney in 2015 when she felt a lump in her breast.
“Arriving in Sydney around lunchtime, I was in seeing a doctor by 2pm, and so started a holiday filled with tests,” she said.
Returning home, Karen was formally diagnosed with breast cancer which required an immediate mastectomy, along with both chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Recounting how she had learned how to feel for lumps years earlier using a silicone model, and that she needed to press a little harder to feel any lumps, Karen shared with the crowd that “it’s important to know how you feel when healthy, so you know how you feel when you’re not”.
Recalling how she felt alone, in shock, confused and terrified all at once, Karen said she chose to focus on what she could learn, instead of asking “why me”.
Spending many weeks in Ballarat for treatment, Karen said she was blessed to have the support of her family, friends and work colleagues who issued her with challenges that, while not completely distracting from the pain, gave her the opportunity to look outside herself and the pain, and to enjoy doing some fun things.
Amongst the challenges, Karen was tasked with taking a photo with a topless fireman, taking a photo of something purple each day, having a coffee in every coffee shop in Ballarat, learning the alphabet backward, and taking a photo with a zebra. Happily, Karen did manage to achieve the majority of these challenges (with the exception of the coffees, although she said she did give this a good crack), and soon had her medical team on board as well.
Praising the power of positive thinking, Karen said that, when she wasn’t undergoing treatment, she would pretend she was in Europe and, along with and “Holly the Hairpiece”, would go on adventures like visiting a castle (Kryal Castle), visiting Loch Ness (Lake Wendouree) and seeing the Loch Ness monster (Ballarat’s famous black swans).
“You also couldn’t keep the clown out of me, and I wanted to do something for the Ballarat community so each morning I would create a bag of balloon animals,” she said.
“I was able to visit the children’s ward once and make animals for the kids.”
“It also made me smile to give the bag to whoever was with me to carry across the busy, windy Ballarat roads.”
Following 6 years of good health, Karen was struck ill again in 2021 when her port became infected. Recalling spending time in isolation in both Horsham and Ballarat hospitals due to Covid, Karen continued to try and keep positive.
2022 was also a tough year as she suffered shingles and was unable to get out of bed for three months due to pain.
Karen went on to share her 4 tips on how she got through it:
- Instead of asking “why me?”, she instead asked “what can/will I learn from this?”. “I couldn’t change the fact I had cancer, but I could change my thought pattern”.
- Take it a moment at a time: “I had many days of both physical and mental pain where sometimes I could only take it one breath, one hour, or one day at a time”.
- Think positive: “I learned the value of being thankful and of seeing something good in every day”.
- Help others: “I believe I went through this journey for a reason; to help and encourage others who are going through something similar”.
Hopeful that her story may strengthen and encourage others, Karen wound up by urging all women of all ages to have their regular checks.
“It can happen to any age, at any stage,” she said.
“But we can do it, and we can do it together”.
As part of the Daffodil Day function, the crowd were encouraged to guess the number of daffodils in a field – with Marj Clayton’s guess of 1,043 coming closest to the answer of 1,012.
A number of attendees were also presented with lucky door prizes of coffee vouchers or honey.
Karen Miller said she was very happy with the number of people who attended.
“Karen spoke really well and engaged everyone,” she said.
“Thank you to Karen and to everyone who attended.”
“Thanks also to Cake & Cookie Co. for the cupcakes and cookies, and to The Fragrant Rose Florist for the daffodils”.