'We joked about her getting old, but she had cancer'

"She started getting weakness in her left arm that she put down to carrying plates for 25 years,” Willa Arantz husband said after her diagnosis.

Willa Arantz with her husband Shaun, son Edward, and daughter Paloma. Picture: GoFundMe

A popular bakery owner in the NSW regional town of Orange is facing the fight of her life after being diagnosed with a rare brain tumour.

Willa Arantz, who runs Racine Bakery with her husband Shaun, was diagnosed earlier this year after a friend told her to see a neurologist after a game of tennis.

The couple are well-known around the town, after previously running both a restaurant and a function business.

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Friends of the Arantz family have started a GoFundMe to help support them through Willa’s fight, which has raised more than $83,000 as of Thursday afternoon.

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Willa Arantz with her husband Shaun, son Edward, and daughter Paloma. Picture: GoFundMe

"We used to laugh about her getting old"

Willa’s husband Shaun told Kidspot he realised his wife had been sick for four or five years, but it wasn’t until she lost balance on a tennis court that they took the steps to get her to a neurologist.

“We’re in hospitality, and she started getting weakness in her left arm that she put down to carrying plates for 25 years,” he said.

“For the past four or five years, she’d get slurry after one or two drinks, which we used to laugh about her getting old and not handling her grog anymore.

“It was only noticed by a friend she was playing tennis with when she lost balance. We got an appointment the next day with a neurologist thinking it could be MS.

“They did a scan the day after, and they found she had a tumour on her cerebellum. Initially they didn’t think much of it, but said they’d monitor it.”

That was two months ago, and Willa soon got a biopsy on the tumour so doctors could find out more about her prognosis.

Shaun said doctors still weren’t overly concerned even after the biopsy.

“The tumour she has is generally one you find in children, not adults, so they weren’t sure why (Willa had it),” he said.

“They found it had come on as an adult, and they weren’t worried that much.”

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Willa was playing tennis with a friend when she lost balance. Her friend said she should see a neurologist as soon as possible. Picture: Facebook

"She's an extremely positive person, she'll get through this"

Two weeks ago the family got a call from Willa’s neurosurgeon asking them to attend an appointment in western Sydney.

That’s when the family found out Willa’s tumour wasn’t benign, and the mum-of-two had stage-four cancer.

“That was on a Friday, and they got us into Macquarie Hospital for surgery on the Monday,” Shaun said.

“We went down on Sunday night ready for the surgery first thing in the morning. The surgery went for about eight hours, and I got a call about 10pm from the surgeon saying he was pretty happy with what happened and where they were at.

“We had to wait for a bit of swelling to go down to do some more scans which they seemed pretty happy with, but towards the end of that week they wanted to operate again.”

Willa wouldn’t go through a second operation, as doctors decided to treat the tumour with radiotherapy and chemotherapy rather than put her through a second brain surgery.

“We brought her home and she’ll do all the treatment here in Orange,” Shaun said.

“She’s starting five weeks of radiotherapy on Monday, and chemotherapy after that until March.

“She’s an extremely positive person, and she’s strong willed enough to push through this and get to the other side.”

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Willa Arantz is a well-known restaurateur and bakery owner from Orange. Picture: Facebook

"It's been amazing to watch the love and support from everybody"

Shaun said the couple’s two children Edward, 13, and Paloma, 8, had dealt with the news about their mum in different ways.

“Edward’s quite emotionally mature, whereas Paloma is more like myself in that she doesn’t say much,” he said.

“We explained everything to Edward in detail, we thought he deserved that, and we’ve explained to Paloma what we think is enough.

“We’ve explained her mum’s had an operation and her brain’s recovering, and she seems to be OK.”

Shaun said the support from the Orange community had been overwhelming.

“Willa is a big personality in town,” he said.

“We’ve been here for about 16 years, we got an opportunity to open a business here so we opened our restaurant.

“Obviously being in that game, you’re very public, and Willa is a public person.

“There was a lot of support for her when this came out. I’m a bit of a private person, so it’s been a bit overwhelming, but it’s been really amazing to watch and experience the love and support of everybody.”

Originally published as 'We joked about her getting old, but she had cancer'