Channel 10 TV presenter Liz Cantor opens up on mother’s health battle and tough 2024

While Liz Cantor looks the picture of happiness with her three gorgeous children, loving family and successful career, she reveals the rock-bottom lows of 2024 that almost broke her.

Becky Cantor (centre) with daughter Liz Cantor’s children (from left) Fin Lysaught, Sky Lysaught and Kit Lysaught Picture: Weir the Wild

She’s the sunny smile of reassurance, even when warning of stormy skies, but this weather presenter never predicted this year’s incredible highs and rock-bottom lows.

While Liz Cantor looks the picture of happiness with her three gorgeous children, loving family and successful career, 2024 almost broke her.

Always modest, the veteran presenter is reluctant to share the heartbreak behind her highlights reel, but she’s hoping the honest but tough truth may somehow help someone else, especially during this holiday season.

Despite her joy in securing one of the first dual-network contracts, hosting her two lifestyle programs Creek to Coast and Weekender at Channel 7 as well as becoming weather presenter for Channel 10’s Queensland nightly news bulletin, Liz has also endured the distress of reckoning with her own mortality, and that of her beloved mother.

“I think, because of what I do for work, I’m very aware that there’s always someone worse off – I see it in our bulletins everyday – so I’m hesitant to come across as woe is me. I have a great life,” she said.

“But my reality is behind closed doors there’s been a lot of tears this year.

“Perhaps it’s good to remind people that behind every smiling Instagram photo are the realities of everyday life away from a highlights reel.

Liz Cantor and mum Becky Cantor. Picture: Weir the Wild

“I think it’s also worthwhile to let people know it’s OK to feel and acknowledge your pain, even if someone else has it worse.

“I like the analogy of being in hospital with a broken arm and the person next to you has a broken back … yes, they have it worse, but it doesn’t mean your arm doesn’t hurt.”

For Liz, her difficult year started with a simple shower. Applying moisturiser, she was startled to feel a hard lump in her left breast.

With husband Ryan agreeing it felt suspicious, she booked an appointment with her GP first thing the next day.

“The doctor felt it and as soon as I saw his face I knew this was not good,” she said.

“I had to get a mammogram, which escalated to an ultrasound and then biopsy. I was just in such a state of anxiety and every time I looked at my two-year-old daughter and my six and seven-year-old boys, I couldn’t help but think ‘what if’?

“The biopsy came back and it was non-cancerous and we all exhaled. But four months later I went to a breast specialist for a review, which included an ultrasound, and he didn’t like the look of it.

“I told him I had a biopsy already but he said I needed another one and I was plunged right back into that gut-wrenching state of fear.

“What I have is called PASH (pseudoangiomatous stromal hyperplasia). It presents just like a cancerous tumour, but these abnormal cells are caused by trauma, like bruising from surfing or just everyday life with three kids, not cancer. It will be surgically removed but there is no rush.

“I just can’t imagine going through all of that awful stress and then getting a cancer diagnosis at the end. I was so relieved but also it takes a minute to decompress from those big feelings.”

Yet just four weeks later, Liz’s phone rang.

Liz Cantor and mum Becky Cantor - the bubbly TV presenter says: “I’ll never forget, those moments in life imprint – they’re never lost. I was just pulling into the driveway at home from a 10 News weather cross and my phone rang and it was Mum and Dad together telling me she had cancer.” Picture: Weir the Wild

This time there was no excruciating wait, just the awful news from her parents that her mother Becky had pancreatic cancer.

As a ‘silent’ malignancy, it had already grown into her mother’s veins and arteries so that surgeons could not remove the tumour. Instead, her mother is now undergoing six months of aggressive chemotherapy to shrink its size in the hopes it could be removed in the future.

Liz said, no matter how successful the treatment was, it would be considered life-extending rather than curative.

“I’ll never forget, those moments in life imprint – they’re never lost. I was just pulling into the driveway at home from a 10 News weather cross and my phone rang and it was Mum and Dad together telling me she had cancer,” said Liz.

“I just couldn’t believe it. She’s only 70 and loves running, she’s been running half-marathons because she said she wants to make sure she was fit and around for a long time to be with the grandkids.

“They live in Noosa but she’d been down at our house only the weekend before that phone call to visit the grandkids and she looked the picture of health running around with them, although she did mention a tummy ache a couple of times.”

Despite the terrible news, Liz said the family was still incredibly fortunate.

Her mother had initially been diagnosed with pancreatitis, but a family member insisted on further examination.

“My brother’s father-in-law is a gastroenterologist in Sydney and he just wasn’t sure about her diagnosis, so he asked her to send her scans and blood test results to see what was going on,” she said.

“It was him that called Mum and said, ‘Becky, this is pancreatic cancer’. It just flipped everything.

“I hate to think what her prognosis would be if she hadn’t mentioned this to George — thank goodness for that family connection.

“Two weeks later she started aggressive chemotherapy. She’s now starting her third round and it will continue for six months. She’s already down to 40kg and is losing her hair. It’s hard to see.”

Becky Cantor with her grandchildren Fin Lysaught, Sky Lysaught and Kit Lysaught Picture: Weir the Wild

Liz said she was incredibly close to her mother, a former English teacher who inspired her own love of storytelling, and ‘the best grandma in the world’.

She said she was only just sharing both her own and her mother’s story as she came to terms with what they had been through this year.

“I’ve always been driven to entertain people and share good stories, and this is not a good story,” she said.

“Mum is also fiercely private but she wanted to share the story of that initial misdiagnosis to encourage people to have the confidence to push for more answers or a second opinion.

“I’ve also been hesitant because there is so much judgement these days, and I know for someone else this maybe isn’t the worst story. But for me it’s been a living nightmare, this is not just another cancer diagnosis, this is my mum and my heart is shattering. Mums are important.”

Yet intertwined throughout this dark year has also been the golden thread of Liz’s flourishing career.

Channel 10 Brisbane's all female presenting team Liz Cantor (Weather), Sharyn Ghidella (News reader) and Veronica Eggleton (Sports presenter) Picture: Supplied Ch10

She said her boss at Channel 10, Erin Edwards, had been incredibly supportive and the network was proactive in offering wellness assistance like grief counselling.

“I remember sitting in the breast cancer clinic, about to go through that second biopsy, and getting a phone call from 10 to confirm my start date. Part of me was so happy and excited, the other part was wondering whether this would even happen now. It was like a choose-your-own-adventure book, which page would we turn to … where I have cancer or not?

“Thank goodness it was a happy ending for me and I got to continue with my career dreams, but at the same time it’s been a really tough year for so many of my colleagues – especially with the loss of Channel 7’s Gold Coast News.

“2024 has been nothing short of a rollercoaster year, so this festive season I’m just going to hold my family, friends and loved ones close and hope for a happier, less dramatic year.”