Moreton Bay legal assistant Sinead Healy receives tragic leukaemia diagnosis

A Moreton Bay legal assistant and passionate singer’s out of the blue joint pain turned into a race for survival, forcing her to come to grips with her mortality at a tragically young age.

A Burpengary legal assistant and law student has sadly been forced to swap the courtroom for a hospital bed, as she positively battles a rare leukaemia diagnosis that only one in 400 Australians face each year.

24-year-old Sinead Healy of Burpengary East had some out of the blue joint pain in October 2023 which resulted in being rushed to hospital in Brisbane and immediately admitted, after a blood test revealed she had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL).

Chemotherapy and further testing started straight after the diagnosis of the t-cell type leukaemia.

The ALL diagnosis came out of nowhere for Ms Healy and her family whose life was normal one minute and forever changed the next.

“We were all in shock and didn’t know how to handle it and emotionally we all had different responses,” Ms Healy said.

Sinead Healy with brother Samuel, whose diagnosis came as a shock to the family. Picture: Contributed

“It didn’t really click till we were on the ward that this is a life changing situation and processed the gravity of it.

“Something like this makes you change your outlook on life.

“It’s not common for young people to face their mortality.

“It’s difficult but in a way a blessing because many people don’t have that awakening until people are much older.

“It made me think about what I want to do with my life and what I want it to look like?”

Ms Healy has been undergoing regular chemotherapy since October and is booked in for a bone-marrow transplant in March, in the hope the procedure would offer a cure.

According to the Cancer Council, about 400 Australians are diagnosed with (ALL) per year and of these, more than half are children and adolescents aged under 20.

The 24-year-old has been constantly surrounded by her partner, family and in particular her mum Teresa, who she joked would never leave her alone.

Sinead Healy was working at a law firm and studying when this rare cancer came out of nowhere. Picture: Contributed

“Everyone has been so overwhelmingly supportive,” Ms Healy said.

“It takes something like this to realise how many people care and want to help.

“It brought everyone closer together, despite how terrible it is.”

A GoFundMe has been started to support Ms Healy financially, as she has used all her sick leave and holiday pay to meet her chemotherapy and treatment needs.

She has had to pause her law degree and her firm has kindly held her position for a hoped eventual return.

The legal assistant said she had been a singer — as a hobby — since she was nine, played the guitar and piano and is happy being the loudest person in the room or a wallflower, depending on what’s needed.

Sinead Healy wants to raise awareness about blood marrow donations. Picture: Contributed

“Cancer is an ugly disease but the biggest thing is to have the mental strength to get through it,” Ms Healy said.

“You have to do the small things, just one nice thing a day for yourself, it makes all the difference.”

Ms Healy also wanted to raise awareness about the bone marrow register and how easy and lifesaving it is for more people to donate.

“There’s many people in my position that can’t find matches when with a simple cheek swab, you could be saving someone’s life,” Ms Healy said.

“We know about blood donations but not many know they can donate stem cells and it’s not an invasive procedure anymore.

“It’s similar to a blood transfusion and it’s not painful.”

Ms Healy urged everyone to check out strengthtogive.org to find out more about blood marrow donations.