Mum had breast cancer for 19 years, but she kept on living

MIKE Leddin’s mother “created an oblivion” for him to live in, he says. He never really knew how bad she was until her final weeks.

Maree was diagnosed in 1992, aged 31. She is pictured with husband Danny, Sarah, six, Mike, four, and Stephanie, two.

MIKE Leddin’s mother “created an oblivion” for him to live in, he says.

He never really knew how bad she was until her final weeks.

She allowed him to be free, and his happiness did the same for her, he says.

Maree Leddin was diagnosed with breast cancer at 31, when Mike was just four years old.

But she lived a full life for an extraordinary 19 years.

That doesn’t mean things were easy. Maree battled cancer every day, besides a couple of years of remission.

She was often exhausted, but forced herself to take part in special occasions, both in and out of the family home in Essendon.

Mike, now 26, only realised her strength when he was writing his book, Keeping Maree, and found her old diary.

Some of those entries appear in his story.

“She wrote about everything, from when she was having good days, and was extremely motivated, to a number of setbacks,” Mike told news.com.au.

“She talks about watching the kids grow, and how hard it was on her toughest days. Conversations with dad about what they would do after she passed away; romantically whether she was comfortable with him moving on. Really emotional stuff.”

It’s difficult reading, but Mike says his mother made sure he was equipped to cope.

“I’ve always been an alpha male,” he says.

“You live in denial. I focused on being a young guy, on footy and basketball.

“She had her son thinking she was in control, she wasn’t going anywhere. It gave her a bit of hope.”

His two sisters knew he didn’t fully understand how serious their mother’s illness was, they tell him now.

In 2003, he went to the US to complete his business degree, which he says he would never have done if he had realised.

But Maree wanted it that way. And she was determined to keep living life herself, “chasing her dreams every day”.

She died at 50 in 2011, and Mike has worked through his grief by writing this book. His father Danny runs a business and has been “the backbone of the family” through everything, although Mike says it will “never get easy” for him.

Mike has taken many of the things his mother did into his own life.

Despite her worsening health, the mother-of-three started her own small business, and she made time to engage with things she loved.

“I’d know the door was closed if she was in her own space,” says Mike.

“She would create this environment, put on her favourite music, run a hot bath, paint — at first china, then portraits and pictures of our beach house. She loved writing.

“They were things she was doing to keep the fight going.”

Maree researched natural therapies, such as how to keep the pH balance right in her body. She meditated. She made herself go to different places even when she was on the verge of collapse.

“She was doing some incredible things I’ve never seen people do,” says Mike.

He believes his mother’s outlook was unique, and that’s how she survived for so long against all the odds.

Now, he is helping look for a cure and is an ambassador for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

He says the family kept going by leaning on each other.

“My mum helped keep me sane,” he says. “Our happiness made her happy.”

Keeping Maree is available now on Amazon. Visit the website to find out more.