Little Retro House

About Suzanne

A few years ago I moved into a lovely cul-de-sac in Castle Hill, Sydney. Before long, a neighbour came over to welcome me to the street. Her name was Suzanne. She told me she had some "health issues" but was on the mend.

A few weeks later she invited me over for coffee and that is when I learned that she had Stage 4 Ovarian Cancer. I asked her what that meant and she said, "Well, stage 5 is death."


Her illness had not been detected until she was Stage 4 and her only symptoms were tiredness, some tummy bloating and some lower back pain. Now, if you are a wife and mother you may experience these symptoms every day. Which is exactly what Suzanne thought, "I just need to rest more" she told herself. Unfortunately by the time she was diagnosed she was at Stage 4.

She was determined to beat it though and underwent every course of chemo they recommended and even tried every experimental drug and therapy they had going. She kept telling me she couldn't wait to be well enough to come out walking with me and Rhianna. She'd wave to us from her loungeroom window every morning when we took off up the street, Rhianna in her stroller.

She was a quiet, dignified and wonderfully warm person who never said a bad word about anybody or complained about her lot in lfe.

Eventually the doctors told her they had done all they could and she was to "get her affairs in order". She had one last beach holiday with all her family and insisted that her husband finish the back deck he had been building for the past 2 years. She told him to hurry.

Suzanne died last year. We all miss her very much.

February 24th is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Day.