Miss World Australia national finalist and Hobart model Tirah Ciampa opens up on pancreatic cancer battle

Hobart-based model Tirah Ciampa is preparing to walk on stage for the Miss World Australia national finals next month – but earlier this year she was preparing to die.

Tirah Ciampa, 27, of Hobart will represent Tasmania at the Miss World Australia national finals. Tirah has recently gone through treatment for cancer. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Hobart-based model Tirah Ciampa is preparing to walk on stage for the Miss World Australia national finals next month – but earlier this year she was preparing to die.

In February, the 27-year-old was writing letters to her loved ones, sorting out her superannuation and spring cleaning. Her doctors told her to spend time with family.

The otherwise active and healthy girl from Somerset in Tasmania’s North West was told she had pancreatic cancer. “I was getting ready to be gone,” she says.

Tirah with partner Tom Cleary. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Tirah started feeling symptoms in March last year. Days at work became unbearable, excruciating pain radiating through her abdomen and back.

Her weight was plummeting, down to 49kg from an already slender 58kg.

It took her a considerable amount of time to bite the bullet and find out what was wrong.

“At first I thought it was just cramps,” she said.

Then the pain started getting worse.

Tirah Ciampa. Picture: Ian Riley

“Initially doctors thought it might be a heart problem. My resting rate was really high, somewhere around 110bpm. I’d go to work with 48-hour heart halter monitors on, but scans found nothing.”

Tirah was eventually referred to specialist women’s clinic and a young sonographer found a large mass. “He ran out of the room and left me waiting there for half an hour,” Tirah says.

“A senior specialist came in, sat me down and told me I needed to go to the hospital immediately.”

Tirah during her health battle. Picture: Supplied

Tirah was rushed to Royal Hobart Hospital. After a biopsy, doctors found a 15x15cm tumour inside her pancreas – and the insidious growth mutating in her body had already eaten half the organ.

“What’s crazy is that I went on living for months with a pancreas functioning at 50 per cent capacity,” Tirah says.

She underwent a major eight-hour surgery in March to remove the tumour and portions of her pancreas.

The mass in her pancreas. Picture: Supplied

Tirah tearfully tells the Mercury the recovery was “hell”.

“I had 12 tubes sticking out of me, It took days to walk. There was a lot of physiotherapy,” she says.

“The worst part was that I didn’t know the severity of the cancer until weeks after my diagnosis – or if they had successfully removed it all.

“For a long time after the diagnosis I was in limbo. I felt pushed into a corner where I couldn’t feel anything. I couldn’t show people I was terrified for my life because then they would freak out.

Tom supported Tirah every step of the way. Picture: Supplied

“I was writing letters to my loved ones, sorting out my superannuation, clearing out my laptop and spring cleaning. I wanted to make sure my funeral would be paid for, that it would be an easy mess to clean up. I was getting ready to be gone.

“I remember my boyfriend Tom going on Google after an appointment one day and him just bursting into tears. I did too. I said ‘we can’t do this and we have to pretend everything is going to be okay.

Four months on from her surgery, Tirah is completely cancer-free. She says her surgeons at the Royal, Dr Jacqueline Slater and Dr Edward Forrest, saved her life. However, she will never be able to drink alcohol again, play any sport and there is a permanent clot in her spleen. A long scar runs from her upper chest to her belly button – one Tirah says “she is not afraid to show – even in a two-piece bikini on stage”.

Tirah says she was “getting ready to be gone” when she received the devastating diagnosis. Picture: Ben Dilger

She will go for one last surgery on Monday, to check on post-surgery “stomach issues”.

Now, she’s eyeing off a title at the Miss Australia national finals on the Gold Coast next month, along with another Tassie finalist, Cleo Pedley. During her health battle, she took out the state titles with Cleo – no small feat.

The model jokes it is her “first and last” pageant, because at 28 years old in the pageant game “you might as well be 60”.

In a triumph, she has gone from becoming a finalist in the Miss World Australia Tasmania state finals to becoming a finalist in the nationals. Picture: Supplied

She turns 28 on August 19 – the day after the finals.

“The competition is pretty crazy. There are girls who do it as a full-time career. What I like about it is the community work and charity that goes along with it,” Tirah says.

Tirah is raising funds for Variety Children’s Charity, a cause close to her heart. She has raised over $2000 toward her $5000 target, with funds going to “disadvantaged children who need it the most”.

She’s also volunteering at a youth centre in town, saying “role models for young people are so important”.

Her advice to people who may be scared to get something checked at the doctor: “Don’t hesitate because it could save your life. And get a regular GP – I can’t stress that enough.”