Rockhampton woman Sam Jones opens up about breast cancer journey

Sam Jones is only in her early 30s, but is battling her second bout of breast cancer and has a vital message to young people.

Sam Jones was just 31-years-old when she was told she had breast cancer.

You have breast cancer.

It’s a phrase no woman or man wants or expects to hear at a young age, but for Sam Jones it was said to her at just 31-years-old.

After noticing some symptoms in February, she was officially diagnosed with breast cancer in March that same year.

“In February 2021 I noticed I had a very tender breast sort of out of nowhere, I’d never had anything like that before,” she said.

“I looked in the mirror and did my checks and just realised something wasn’t right.”

Ms Jones said as soon as she found out her diagnosis she went into “fight mode”, determined to beat the disease.

“I think a lot of people think they would just completely break down and just do the whole ‘why me?’ thing, I immediately went into fight mode,” she said.

“For me in life, in everything that I do, if I’ve got a plan that’s actionable I feel good about things...for me as soon as the doctors came up with a plan and I knew I’d have surgery and see the oncologist I felt good about it.”

A week later she went under the knife to have her left breast and nine lymph nodes removed.

After the surgery, pathology results revealed Ms Jones’ cancer was at stage three, which meant it had the intention to “spread locally”, which signalled the start of quite an intense treatment program.

“Starting in April 2021 I underwent 16 rounds of chemotherapy and then after chemotherapy I did 25 rounds of radiation,” she said.

“After that I continued doing immunotherapy for my particular subtype for 12 months, which finished in July last year.”

Following her treatment Ms Jones thought she was cancer free and was starting to look at her life post cancer.

She had even bought a house.

But just as she was signing the contract for her property and beginning renovations she got the news the cancer had returned.

“A random test I had for something unrelated showed a nodule on my lung that was suspicious, so that resulted in a more thorough scan which I had in November 2022,” she said.

“It means I have metastatic breast cancer now, so it’s spread beyond what they consider local and has gone regional.

“I don’t believe in putting stages on anything, I just believe I still have breast cancer...it’s not curable but it’s a long term treatable.”

In December she started another 12 rounds of chemotherapy and will continue immunotherapy when it is complete.

The node found on her lung was very small and caught early and doctors hope the chemo will completely remove it, with the immunotherapy hopefully keeping it out of her body.

She said the cancer returning meant it was something she would have to keep on top of for the rest of her life.

Sam encouraged anyone no matter their age or history to check themselves to be aware of the signs of breast cancer early.

“It was more of a blow in two ways, because in your mind you think ‘this cancer really wants to spread’ and it’s definitely going to be a fight I now have for the rest of my life, I’m never going to be free of this,” she said.

“But then at the same time I was like ‘ugh I just bought a house!’, my first home and I was just trying to get on with my life.”

But the treatment hasn’t been as smooth sailing this time around, with Sam experiencing a lot of pain, discomfort and even having stays in hospital.

After previously working through her cancer battle, Ms Jones decided it was time to take a break to let her body heal and fight the cancer.

To help, Ms Jones’ friend Roxanne Hinton began a GoFundMe page to help her cover medical costs and bills during her break.

“My family are incredibly supportive, I’m a very independent person so they very much struggle with the fact I want to do most things on my own,” he said.

“I do most of my chemo sessions on my own, it allows me to keep a sense of independence because I need to feel like I’m in control.

“When I was first diagnosed Roxanne reached out and wanted to do some fundraising for me but I’ve always worked full time and I’ve never felt comfortable accepting help or money.

“When I was in hospital last week it occurred to me I needed a break for a little bit.”

Sam encouraged everyone, no matter their age, to get checked.

“I’ve got no family history of breast cancer, and that’s been confirmed through testing, so my biggest message is to check yourself and not be so blase,” he said.

“At the time I was diagnosed I was a bit like ‘oh my God how could this happen, I’m only 31’, but in the six months after I was diagnosed I found out about three or four other women about my age in the same boat.”

To make a donation visit the GoFundMe here.