Young Adelaide mum of two Melissa Veber reveals her biggest fight after discovering she has cancer

A single mum’s life was turned up-side down after a what she thought was a common skin condition turned out to be something more sinister.

When mother-of-two Melissa Veber was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer she wondered if she would live to see her children grow up.

“I am a single parent,” the 42-year-old said.

“I was worried about how they were going to cope and how I was going to help them understand what was happening without hiding it from them … the relationship I have with my kids is something that I treasure.”

The teacher, who parents 14-year-old Thomas and 12-year-old Mary and teaches over 100 students a week, was told she had breast cancer on October 14, 2024 after a biopsy three days prior.

In September, she had been feeling more tired than usual but put the feeling down to a stressful school term.

Melissa Veber was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer in October, 2024. Picture: Supplied

Melissa with her daughter Mary. Picture: Supplied

When she was in the shower she conducted a self-exam and found a large lump under her arm which was painful.

“I didn’t immediately think cancer … I thought maybe it’s an ingrown hair,” the Andrews Farm woman said.

She went to her doctor who ordered a mammogram, ultrasound, biopsy and fine needle aspiration which confirmed Ms Veber had breast cancer.

Melissa thought the lump under her arm was an ingrown hair at first. Picture: Supplied

During her ultrasound appointment, the technician showed her the screen where the lump was and Ms Veber saw “this big black thing there”.

“I remember asking her ‘is this normal?’ and she said ‘no honey it’s not’,” she said.

“We went over to my breast and that’s when we found the two tumours and obviously she couldn’t tell me that they were tumours but she said they’ve got reasons to do the biopsy and the fine needle aspiration … they wouldn’t go through that if there wasn’t a reason to.”

After her diagnosis Ms Veber explained to her children and students that she had cancer using a grass and weed analogy.

She said blades of grass are the cells in a body and the weeds are the cancer — the more weeds and the more spots the higher the stage.

“I said, how do you get rid of weeds? That’s what cancer treatment is,” she said.

She likened weed killer to chemotherapy, shovels to surgery and burning weeds to radiation.

Melissa undergoing chemotherapy. Picture: Supplied

Thomas and Mary, Melissa Veber’s children. Picture: Supplied

Since diagnosis, Ms Veber has undergone chemotherapy treatment and is recovering before undergoing a surgery to hopefully remove the remainder of the cancer.

“If they don’t get it all they’ll take me for another surgery … and then we’ll have radiation,” she said.

Ms Veber has been unable to teach since October last year and because she was on a contract she was denied income protection, she said.

Melissa Veber is a teacher and these are many cards from students, friends and family. Picture: Supplied

“I’m trying really hard to get through treatment so I can get back into the classroom as soon as possible because that’s where I want to be at the end of the day, I love my job,” she said.

If you want to donate to Ms Veber you can here.

Originally published as Young Adelaide mum of two Melissa Veber reveals her biggest fight after discovering she has cancer