Tears as 'brave' mum loses ovarian cancer battle
“There are no words to express the loss and emotions we are feeling. Leane was a loving mother, wife, friend and ambassador for the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation."
Family Life
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A Melbourne family is in mourning after their 55-year-old mum lost her battle to an aggressive cancer.
Leane Flynn was a “picture of health” and saw herself as a “healthy, happy middle-aged woman” who ran every morning, worked out at the gym, and did Pilates.
She experienced mild bloating and urgent urination, but put the symptoms down to menopause.
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7News reports the mother-of-three was diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer in 2017, just hours after finishing a 10km run in the morning.
She was then left devastated after being told she wouldn’t live beyond five years.
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"There are no words to express the loss"
Leane did end up outliving doctors’ expectations, but she passed away with her husband Justin and her three daughters - Amelia, 26, Laura 24, and Anabel, 19 - by her side on Tuesday.
“It’s with a heavy heart that we have to share our beautiful Leane passed away... surrounded by Justin and the girls,” loved ones wrote in a heartbreaking tribute on her Instagram page.
“There are no words to express the loss and emotions we are feeling. Leane was a loving mother, wife, friend and ambassador for the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation.
“She fought an incredibly tough battle all the way to the end and she did it with pure resilience and positivity the whole way.
“Even through her hardest times she always continued to share her story and raise awareness for ovarian cancer.”
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"Thank you to everyone for years of love and support"
Leane’s family said they would continue running her Instagram account in her honour.
“We can keep spreading awareness so no one else has to go through what she went through,” the post continued.
“We would like to say thank you to everyone for the years of love and support.
“Your positive messages and comments always brightened her day and we are very grateful for that.
“We will miss our Leane everyday and she’s everywhere with us.”
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"Everyone says you get bloated when you become menopausal"
Leane previously told 7News she started to experience “mild bloating” in 2016 at the “peak of her health”.
“I sort of said, ‘Well, I’m probably getting menopause’ because everyone says you get bloated when you become menopausal,” she said.
“That didn’t worry me so much.”
She continued her healthy lifestyle for two months, but started to experience her second symptom in February, 2017.
“I actually noticed I was urinating all the time,” she told 7News.
“I used to go for lots of runs and I had to stop to go to the toilet all the time, I just had the urgency all the time.”
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"I woke up thinking I was a healthy, happy middle-aged woman"
She booked an appointment with the doctor, but still wasn’t extremely worried about her symptoms.
“Even then, I was thinking, ‘Well, I’ve had three children, it’s probably women's problems’,” she said.
“My GP agreed with me, because I was the picture of health. She said, ‘It’s probably menopause, but we’ll send you for a blood test and scan just to be sure’.”
Unfortunately, tests came back with the terrible news that Leane had ovarian cancer. She had two “Coke can-sized” tumours on her ovaries, and a “banana-sized” tumour on her liver.
“It’s just so bizarre because when I got up that morning I went for a 10k run. I woke up thinking I was a healthy, happy middle-aged woman,” she told 7News.
“Then that night, I’m going to bed thinking I have a lethal cancer that is killing me. I had to come home and tell my husband Justin. They tell you not to Google anything, but I was Googling madly.
“We called (our three daughters) from work and school, and they all came home, and we had to sit them down and say I had cancer.”
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"They told me I should be okay"
Leane underwent six months of chemotherapy, and 7News reports her cancer markers were initially going down.
“They told me I was young, I was healthy, I had it all going for me, and I should be okay,” she said.
“You go through all the surgeries and chemo but you always have it in the back of your mind, even though you’re still hoping to be that one where it doesn’t recur,” she said.
The cancer came back four months later, this time on her diaphragm, and Leane underwent another six months of chemotherapy.
“At this stage, they’re telling me I’m terminal, and it’s incurable, and I will only last as long as the treatments last,” she told 7News.
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"They sent me home last year to die in peace"
Leane had her biggest scare in January, 2022, when she was told she only had a week left to live.
“The cancer had wrapped around my bowel. I had three bowel perforations. I was septic,” she remembered.
“They couldn’t control it. They sent me home in March last year to die in peace.
“Miraculously, slowly day by day, I started getting better,” she said.
“I could hardly walk, and then one day I sort of walked around the block.
“And the next day I (went) further and then, slowly but surely, I started getting better.”
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"I don't want it to be all for nothing"
Leane continued chemotherapy treatments to “buy time”, but she unfortunately lost her battle this week.
In the six years between her diagnosis and her passing, 7News reports Leane spent a lot of time raising awareness for her disease after becoming an ambassador for the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation.
“When I was diagnosed, I found out all the shocking statistics about ovarian cancer and how underfunded (the research) is,” she told 7News.
“I made the decision when I was getting my first chemo - I thought, ‘I’m going to do something with what I’ve been through to change things’, because I don’t want it all to be for nothing.
“I came to the realisation that I could sit at home and cry and be a victim to this cancer, or I could get out there and make a difference, tell my story and try to raise more money and awareness.”
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"I want to set a good example for my girls"
Despite her battle, Leane said she always had her family at the front of her mind.
“I don’t want my girls to have their best years shrouded in cancer and sadness and a lack of hope,” she explained.
“I want them to see that you can make something out of anything.
“I want to set a good example for my girls, I want to make a difference, leave a legacy, something I can be proud of.”
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