How does it feel to know you can save a young mothers life?  

Every day people all over Queensland hear the devastating news that they have cancer. But thanks to extraordinary treatment breakthroughs, made possible through the medical research that the community’s donations support, many like people are surviving and supporting others facing their own cancer journeys.

Karla was just 32 when she discovered a lump in her breast while breastfeeding her one year old baby. Karla recalls.

“The first time I had to really think about what had happened to me was as I was lying in hospital two days after my surgery surrounded by flowers and cards. Our world had turned upside down. It all felt very surreal and so unfair.”

In the months that followed, Karla underwent chemotherapy and with such low immunity, developed secondary infections leading to stays in hospital making the gruelling experience even worse. “I wanted my babies and they wanted me. It broke my heart that I was too sick to be a mother to them,” she says recalling the physical and emotional pain.

Little did Karla imagine eight years ago that she’d be the first woman in her family to have breast cancer. Neither did she imagine while she was going through chemo that six years later she’d be the first in her family to have identical twins!

Karla is now mother to four young children and is one of our 2,500 volunteers who give their time freely to support others going through the same frightening experience. She even makes herself available through our peer to peer support programme to speak to other women diagnosed with cancer.

Generosity like yours is the very life line that helps provide all these services to those who need it most while we strive towards creating hope for a cancer free future.

Our commitment this year is to invest over $12 million on life saving research aimed at making cancer a thing of the past.

This is a challenge we can’t achieve without your help. Please make a lifesaving donation today to help us raise $400,000 by Daffodil Day on 27th August so others like Karla don’t suffer cancer alone.

Alternatively, you can call us on 1300 663 936 to make a donation over the phone.

Click here to read Karla’s full story