Hope, and time to do all the things I’ve wanted to do — Ellie's cancer story
For the past 13 years, Ellie has received cancer treatment in the Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer, including new treatments and clinical trials to help her spend more time doing the things she loves, with those she loves.
Her cancer diagnosis started with a sore knee, which she put down to spending hours in the cold watching her then six-year-old son, Kingsley, play rugby.
After some tests and scans, Ellie was referred to Flinders. She remembers arriving alone and being taken by a friendly volunteer to her appointment.
“I remember looking up and it said Cancer Clinic, and at that moment I turned to the volunteer and said, ‘Oh my gosh, do I have cancer?’…. I had a sore knee, I had no idea that’s what was suspected.”
Ellie underwent surgery to have the tumour removed from behind her knee.
Just three days after the surgery, and still recovering herself, Ellie faced the unbearable - losing her husband.
“I’ve always struggled with a feeling of blame I guess that the cancer and my knee contributed to that ... but in looking now, it’s a reminder that cancer doesn’t just affect the person with it, but others around them too.”
It was then, while juggling grief, her cancer diagnosis, and caring for her young son, that a lump appeared in Ellie’s neck.
“From there, they just started popping up everywhere,” Ellie says, of the cancerous tumours – a type of soft tissue sarcoma.
Precious time
In the years that have followed, Ellie has had nine separate surgeries to remove various cancers – including in a section of her liver, pancreas, gall bladder, spleen, spine, knee, thigh and hip.
Tumours have also infiltrated her lungs and she now lives with advanced metastatic cancer.
She’s met, been treated by, and made friends with staff in every corner of Flinders Medial Centre and The Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer.
She’s had chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and five rounds of radiotherapy, and has been involved in five clinical trials at Flinders, trialling new treatments to attack the cancer.
“Early on I met a young girl with cancer, and we traded stories,” Ellie says.
“I asked her if she had some advice for me and she said, ‘always be positive, and other people will be positive for you too’.
“I really feel like that’s what’s helped me because I’ve always been positive and said to the doctors and nurses ‘yes, count me in, let’s do this’ to everything they’ve suggested, and I think they’ve returned that positivity by never giving up on me.
“They’ve offered me trial after trial, and I think ‘why would I give up if they’re all still so willing to fight for me.
“I’ve always felt like everyone has been here with the same purpose – to help me – many of them have become like family and I know that because of their efforts I’ve far outlived what they expected I would.”
That time has been so precious to Ellie, who’s been able to watch her son grow up, graduate from school, and find new passions in life like singing with her choir and doing theatre.
“They’ve given me hope, and time to do all the things I’ve wanted to do…and importantly my son still has his mum,” Ellie says.
“And I’m certainly not giving up anytime soon, I’ve got too much singing to do!”
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Flinders Foundation acknowledges the Kaurna people as the traditional custodians of the land on which the Flinders precinct was established. We acknowledge the Kaurna people’s deep and ongoing connection to land, waters and community, and pay our respect to their Elders, past and present.
