‘Indescribable’: How grandmother survived dual cancer diagnosis

A survivor has spoken about the rattling experience of surviving and living cancer-free for 14 years before being re-diagnosed in 2021, and her life after cancer. Read her inspiring story here.

It was as simple as a routine check-up that saved the life of Wallangarra mother, grandmother and two-time cancer survivor Helen Hines.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer twice in 14 years, having to undergo surgery, chemotherapy and radiation multiple times.

Mrs Hines was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 following a routine check-up.

The following actions from her and her team of medical professionals saved her life.

“I don’t know whether I can describe the feeling,” she said of her first diagnosis.

“It felt like the bottom had fallen out of everything.

“It’s a shock because you don’t expect something like that but you’ve got to go ahead and get treatment.”

SURVIVOR: Helen Hines has battled and survived breast cancer twice in her lifetime.

Within a fortnight of a lump being detected in her breast, she had surgery to remove it and another malignant lump, following by gruelling rounds of chemotherapy and radiation.

Mrs Hines spent the following 14 years cancer-free.

But last year the nightmare began again when a routine breast screen detected another lump.

“The lady that was doing (the mammogram), she was very persistent in coming back to one particular spot all the time,” Mrs Hines said.

“I said ‘have you found something?’ and she pointed at the screen.

“She pointed at some funny little mark, and the doctor came in and had a look and they were sure that something was there.

“They did a biopsy right then and there.”

After Mrs Hines returned home she received the call that it was cancer, again.

Another surgery and three weeks of radiation followed and as of April this year, Mrs Hines was once again cancer-free.

“You do think ‘poor me why do I have to have it’, but when you see other people that are worse off than you are, you’ve just got to get on with it,” she said.

“You’ve just got to let your body heal and you’ll hopefully come through the other side which I have.”

She spent time at the Icon Cancer Centre during both her battles.

Mrs Hines has kept a remarkably positive attitude throughout her experiences, one she didn’t realise the magnitude of until people approached her about it.

“There was a gentleman here at the post office and he was looking funny at me and he said ‘I admire you’,” she said.

Helen Hines (far right) with her daughter Angela Hines (left) and granddaughter Audrey Ferguson.

“And I said ‘What have I done?’

“He reckons I had a positive attitude for what I had gone through and he admired me.”

Mrs Hines said as challenging as her experience had been, it had made her change her entire outlook on life.

She said the little things that used to bother her weren’t so bothersome anymore.

“You might have your moments where you just sit and think, but you just think nah, get over it,” she said.

“I’ve got four healthy kids and five healthy grandkids.

“Life’s good.”

Sunday, June 5 was Cancer Survivors Day, and there are currently one million people in Australia living life after cancer.

Mrs Hines said when it came to surviving, it was all about the mindset, and reaching out to those who need the support.

“You’ve got to be positive,” she said.

“Friends and family that talk to you, they might come and visit but some of them feel a bit on edge because they don’t know what to say.

“Just talk about everything and anything.

“It makes you relax.”