Brunswick East woman says thanks for support after receiving breast cancer diagnosis
TESS Deveze was enjoying life before a doctor told her she had “multiple cancers in both breasts”. Now a campaign driven by her friends and family is aiming to get her back on her feet.
North West
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I AM 36, independent, and just over four weeks ago I heard the words “you have multiple cancers in both breasts and may lose both of them”.
Only three weeks prior, during self-examination, I found the lump. Turns out it was not the cyst I was telling myself it was, it was stage 3 aggressive breast cancer.
In exactly 28 days, I had 13 medical appointments, 12 various uncomfortable invasive tests and scans (one including 11 core needle biopsies), surgery consisting of a lumpectomy and axillary dissection with 26 lymph nodes removed, plus I have had to cease full-time work. Among all of these things, the scariest has been financial survival while unable to work during the months of treatment ahead.
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Government allowances exist, but don’t even cover my weekly rent. When I told my friends I might need to live in a nursing home, they created the Help T-Rex Tess GoFundMe campaign. Asking for help has never been easy, and in a time where I truly need it — and am able to swallow my pride — a community larger than I could have imagined rallied behind me.
Friends and strangers from 13 different countries have contributed to my campaign. Now, rather than anxieties around how I will afford to buy food, I am in a position to consider the types of foods I should buy, to help benefit my health during chemo.
Post first surgery, I am healing well. In the next few weeks I will receive my first of many monthly injections to initiate menopause. Then six months of chemotherapy. Then a double mastectomy, somewhere in there is also radiotherapy and breast reconstruction. All of this is followed by five years of hormone therapy.
I’m staring down a future of treatments over five years including every type of breast cancer treatment you can offer. I feel like I just jumped out of a plane with no parachute. I wanted to say to anyone who has ever donated to a cause, thank you. It is true, every little bit does help and now I’m able to focus on myself throughout these future treatments.
Tess Deveze is a Brunswick East resident, she is fundraising to help battle the disease. Support the campaign here.
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