Bentleigh mum Mandy Isaacs, 55, diagnosed with stage four bone cancer after getting scan on broken ribs
A Bentleigh mum of two has been told by her oncologist she only have a few years to live after being diagnosed with stage four bone cancer — but she isn’t giving up without a fight.
South East
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A Melbourne mum of two who went to the doctors for a scan on broken ribs was given the devastating news she has stage 4 bone cancer, and has been told she may only a few year to live.
Mandy Isaacs, of Bentleigh, a community transport driver for the Glen Eira City Council, said her started getting pain in her ribs in June last year.
On December 7, the 55-year-old was on her shift taking the elderly out shopping when she applied the handbrake to stop the mini-van and felt “intense” pain, later finding out she had broken ribs.
“I just thought, why have I got pain there?,” Ms Isaacs said.
“I just had this rib pain that was not going away.
“At the time I was seeing a chiropractor, and he thought it was something called costochondritis,” she said.
But scans revealed several of Ms Isaacs’ ribs had been broken since June, followed by the diagnosis of bone cancer.
“I didn’t even know they were broken,” she said.
Ms Isaacs, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012 which she beat, was told the cancer had silently spread to her bones.
She also had a whipple procedure for pancreatic cancer in 2016 — a condition her mum died from 33 years ago.
Ms Isaacs said she was “absolutely shocked” when she found out she had stage four bone cancer.
“I actually was in disbelief — I was feeling OK at the time,” she said.
Ms Isaacs added being told she only had a few years to live was like “living with a time bomb”.
“(It’s) never knowing when...,” she said.
Ms Isaacs said while she has undergone the cancer conventional treatment and other options in Melbourne that kept the cancer at bay, she also looked into Verita Life, a groundbreaking cancer treatment clinic in Thailand.
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She said Verita Life offered “integrative” cancer treatments that best suited her specific needs, combining advanced therapies like immunotherapy, targeted treatments and holistic support to not only fight the cancer but to strengthen her immune system.
“They’re doing things that are different to Australia and Melbourne — hopefully it’ll be successful,” Ms Isaacs said.
“They’ve got good success stories — a lot of people have gone there on their deathbed and it’s been a success.
“I don’t know how the stories have turned out, but overall I have to give it a go, don’t I?”
Ms Isaac’s sister Danielle D’Angelo has created a GoFundMe page to help raise money for the treatment, which would cost a total of $55,000.
Almost $15,000 has been raised for the fundraiser already, and Ms Isaacs said she was “overwhelmed” by the community support.
“I actually can’t believe how it blew up so quickly, which is really amazing,” she said.
“My family and friends were sharing it on Facebook with their friends, and their friends would share it as well.
“I just can’t believe how far it’s travelled and I can’t explain how I feel — it’s just such a great feeling to know that people want to help me.”
