Robyn Cavanagh defies cancer prognosis to continue caring for community

Robyn Cavanagh has already written her grandkids’ birthday cards for the next 10 years, and cards for every other family milestone in between. She was told she wouldn’t be around but continues to defy the odds.

Robyn Cavanagh with her grandson Harvey Reihl in 2024.

When Robyn Cavanagh was told she had less than three years to live, her first thought was what would happen to the two children in her care.

Ms Cavanagh, who runs Quality Lifestyle Support in Toowoomba, was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in 2021 after finally deciding to do the free screening test all 50-year-old Australians receive in the mail.

“I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer that had metastasised to my liver and lungs,” she said.

“It was terminal right from the start.

“I was given 24-36 months to live, well it was four years this June and I’m not dead.”

Robyn Cavanagh with her grandson Jackson Raymer on his first day of daycare.

As the kinship carer of her step great-grandchildren, they were all she could think about after getting her diagnosis.

“I was just gutted and my first instinct was these two step grandkids, because who would look after them? Where would they go,” she said.

“My kids were adults, and they’re good humans and I knew that they’d be fine without me.

“But these two young ones, what happens to them?”

Robyn Cavanagh with her step grandkids Ricky and Hope Hart and her grandson Jackson Raymer in 2022.

She said she was devastated thinking about the moments she would miss with them and the rest of her family so she wrote them cards for all their major milestones.

“I got really angry at one stage in my diagnosis because I was going to miss out on all of this, I was going to miss out when Billy and Evelyn and Poppy, my grandchildren get married or have their graduations,” she said.

“The way I see it, if it wasn’t me it would have been someone else, so it might as well be me.”

Within just three months Ms Cavanagh had four surgeries and had chemo every two weeks for the next two years.

She said she has had hundreds or rounds of chemo and she now has maintenance chemo every three weeks.

In her first surgery they removed 60 per cent of her liver and a large part of her bowel.

Robyn Cavanagh holding her newly born grandson just two days after coming out of major bowel surgery.

She went back in for another bowel surgery in January 2022 but after complications she ended up back in surgery a few days later and almost died in the intensive care unit.

Just days later she said she complained about her stomach hurting and after getting her bandages off they found that her surgery staples had split and her bowel was hanging out of her stomach.

She said she doesn’t remember much from her time in hospital.

Mother's Day. Robyn Cavanagh, Evelyn Tippett and Bronte Tippett.

“I was so out of it but I remember my sister sitting there holding my hand and just telling me that I had to fight and not let go,” Ms Cavanagh said.

Ms Cavanagh has scans every four months and her last scan showed no cancer present in her body, but she said it will never be cured.

“It’s just a matter of when it comes back and it won’t be treatable,” she said.

“Ideally I’d like another 10 years, that’d be lovely, but I’ll take whatever I can get.”

Ms Cavanagh was worried about what would happen to her patients at Quality Lifestyle Support if she was gone.

“What happens to all my people? All my clients? What happens to all my staff,” she said.

Jordan Van W, Robyn Cavanagh, Helen Manteit and Rachel Hellyer from Quality Lifestyle Support the main sponsors of the Wilsonton Community Carols, held at McGregor Street oval. Friday December 15th, 2023

From a young age she knew she wanted to help others and one of the reasons she started the organisation with her ex-partner.

She remembered at about 10 years old she used to play with a young boy who lived across the street.

One day he was sent away to an institute because he had down syndrome.

“I didn’t understand why he had to go away,” she said.

“There wasn’t anything wrong with him, he was just different.”

She said the times have changed but people with disabilities are still treated like something is wrong with them.

Robyn Cavanagh and Tony Hurle at the Business disAbility Awards of Australia at Edmund Rice Cultural Centre, Saturday, May 17, 2025. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Ms Cavanagh’s ongoing battle with cancer hasn’t stopped her from giving back to people and she even donated hundreds of thousands from her life insurance to Hope Horizons and Tony’s Community Kitchen.

“Being that close, I was very close to dying, I didn’t want to just sit around for things to happen,” she said.

“If I work with other people and do things for other people, it just takes the focus off me.”

She has donated more than just money, and volunteers regularly at Tony’s Kitchen, Gathering Graze, and Hope Horizons.