‘I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer - then my husband received his diagnosis’

“The weight of one parent facing this ruthless disease is immense, but to have both parents endure this struggle is beyond words.” 

Claire and Aaron’s world was turned upside down in 2019 when Claire was diagnosed with cancer.

She was feeding her youngest daughter Natalie when she felt a small and hard lump in her breast. 

At first, she thought it was mastitis, an infection caused by a blocked milk duct. 

Growing more concerned about the lump, the Victorian mum visited the doctor who confirmed the worst: she had triple-positive breast cancer.

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Claire and Aaron are both fighting for their lives. Source: Daily Mail

“I am not ready to be a carer - I am still sick”

“I was floored because I had always done the right thing,” the Melbourne mum told Daily Mail. 

“Eaten properly, exercised, breastfed, avoided underwire bras all the things you are meant to do.” 

The family sprung into action, with Claire undergoing treatment to kill the cancer. 

But 12 months after her first diagnosis, she was met with a harsh blow - the cancer had returned. 

Then, ten months after treating the second diagnosis, she was told it had returned for a third time. 

Endless bouts of medication, treatments, surgeries and recovery time have caused the family to feel upended; while she battled cancer over and over again, her husband Aaron helped carry the load of caring for their two daughters, Evelyn, seven and five-year-old Natalie.  

The children are somewhat aware of their mum’s sickness, but don’t know how serious it is, a fact that breaks Claire’s heart. 

Right now Claire is on medication to keep the cancer “at bay”, but it has since hit her spine, poised to make a comeback at any point.  

“Technically they can't get rid of it - but there's only so much these drugs can do and they could stop working,” she said. “Then we just try the next one and the next one until we have no options.” 

While Claire was fighting for her life, the family were trying to keep themselves in one piece. 

Then, in July 2023, their world was met with another devastating blow - Aaron had cancer. 

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Claire was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019. Source: GoFundMe

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Shortly before his 40th birthday, the Melbourne dad noticed a growth on his neck. 

Concerned, he visited a skin clinic for further investigation, but they turned him away, assuring him it wasn’t anything serious. 

“They kept telling him it was a benign mole and nothing to worry about,” Claire said. 

“He had been so proactive - even when we moved from Victoria to Queensland - getting his mole map sent over to the clinic.” 

Despite constantly getting told to go home, Aaron was persistent with getting it removed, even just for “vanity” reasons; it kept getting caught in his razor when he shaved in the morning. 

But days after he had the mole removed, Aaron received distressing news: he had melanoma, which had already spread to his lymph nodes and neck, upgraded to stage 3b. 

When Claire heard the news, her world turned upside down once again. 

“The tables have turned I feel like I have had my support taken away and that I have been put into the carer role,” she told Daily Mail. 

“For a few moments, I was annoyed or angry. I thought, ‘I am not ready to be a carer - I am still sick.’” 

In situations like this, Claire said that people “need to trust their gut.” 

“Because if [doctors] had cut it off six or eight months earlier when he asked, then it probably would have been the end of it,” she said. 

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Aaron has undergone surgery to remove the cancer. Source: GoFundMe

“The road ahead is daunting”

In late February, Aaron underwent a gruelling 10-hour surgery on his neck, where doctors tried to remove as much cancer as possible and needed to source muscle and skin from his leg and patch up his neck and throat area.

On Sunday, March 3rd he was discharged from the hospital in Sydney but will require “a lot of care” moving forward, staying at Chris O’Brien Lifehouse while he recovers. 

Now Aaron is out of the hospital and walking again, he is markedly slower than he used to be, prompting a series of harrowing and heart-shattering questions from their two daughters. 

While Claire and Aaron both recover from their diagnoses, their family have set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds in support for their battle ahead. 

“The weight of one parent facing this ruthless disease is immense, but to have both parents endure this struggle is beyond words,” Claire’s sister Julia wrote.  

“The road ahead is daunting,” she added, but hopes a cocktail of treatments and a possible journey to Malaysia for “state-of-the-art therapies” can help Claire make a full recovery. 

You can find out more about the fundraiser here.

Originally published as ‘I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer - then my husband received his diagnosis’