Cancer and Pregnancy - All in One
Donation protected
Hey everyone,
Not many of you will know that this year alone there has been an estimated 18,235 new cases of men and women diagnosed with breast cancer in Australia.
My awesomely brave sister Alice is included in this statistic, diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer earlier in July.
We all have a story to tell; you know, those ones that just completely throw your life upside down, and hers is just crazy.
Alice has been living in Indonesia the last 2.5 years developing a career in the regions disaster management sector and in her spare time falling in love with her now husband Danu. Two days before Alice and Danu tied the knot on the 11th June, trying on her wedding dress (Kebaya) for the final time, she found a lump in her right breast.
After an initial consultation with a local GP and then an oncologist, she was confidently told by both professionals that her cancer was benign; nothing to worry about, ‘this happens all the time’.
Following up with a second opinion, Alice and Danu travelled to Singapore and after some rigorous tests, she was diagnosed with a very real and aggressive tumour. Not the most expected news, given prior diagnoses. Nor with the knowledge that only a week or two prior, Alice and Danu also found out they were pregnant.
Alice chose to return to Australia for treatment and since returning in early August has been embraced by a rockstar medical team including a breast cancer surgeon, oncologist, breast care nurse, social worker, obstetrician and midwife. Which we all can/t thank enough.
It was all hands on deck, including their determination to fight this while keeping the pregnancy. Something Alice and Danu were informed back in Singapore would not be a possibility to continue.
After her first surgery in late August to remove the tumour, histopathology found the lump was a lot bigger, a whole 5.3cm bigger, than originally measured in the tests, of around 2cm. A second surgery followed in early September to remove a larger margin – or non-cancerous tissue – around the removed tumour. Better to be sure! Histopathology results found at this point that the removed margins were riddled with an inconsistent pattern of tumorous “nests”.
Given it was clear that going in for more surgery was a fruitless venture, aside now a mastectomy, and also safely developing beyond the first trimester of pregnancy, Alice has now commenced chemotherapy treatment. Chemo will continue now for the next 6 to 7 months with the intent to stop it at her 35th week of pregnancy in early February to provide her and bubs the best chance for a normal birth untainted or exposed to any chemo. Then back into it. A mastectomy, completion of the chemo and then a course of radiation therapy. In a nutshell.
When she’s good, she’s pretty good. When she’s going through her post-chemo (of what she calls) “drano” periods, she’s pretty well knocked out. Having never been pregnant nor ever had chemo, she undergoes an ongoing guessing game between what is pregnancy nausea and symptoms, and what is a result of the chemo. But on she persists.
So, now I would like to do my bit to help. In honour of everything my sister has been going through and the uphill battle that she still has, I will raising funds from all you amazing people and in return from all your love I will be shaving my head, where 100% of the proceeds with go to the Andrew Love Cancer Centre where Alice is being treated, to ensure they keep doing an amazing job into the future as they have done to date with my sister Alice.
I will be giving this roughly a month and looking to see how good I look bald on the 15th December.
Thank you all again for your support
Mark

Not many of you will know that this year alone there has been an estimated 18,235 new cases of men and women diagnosed with breast cancer in Australia.
My awesomely brave sister Alice is included in this statistic, diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer earlier in July.
We all have a story to tell; you know, those ones that just completely throw your life upside down, and hers is just crazy.
Alice has been living in Indonesia the last 2.5 years developing a career in the regions disaster management sector and in her spare time falling in love with her now husband Danu. Two days before Alice and Danu tied the knot on the 11th June, trying on her wedding dress (Kebaya) for the final time, she found a lump in her right breast.
After an initial consultation with a local GP and then an oncologist, she was confidently told by both professionals that her cancer was benign; nothing to worry about, ‘this happens all the time’.
Following up with a second opinion, Alice and Danu travelled to Singapore and after some rigorous tests, she was diagnosed with a very real and aggressive tumour. Not the most expected news, given prior diagnoses. Nor with the knowledge that only a week or two prior, Alice and Danu also found out they were pregnant.
Alice chose to return to Australia for treatment and since returning in early August has been embraced by a rockstar medical team including a breast cancer surgeon, oncologist, breast care nurse, social worker, obstetrician and midwife. Which we all can/t thank enough.
It was all hands on deck, including their determination to fight this while keeping the pregnancy. Something Alice and Danu were informed back in Singapore would not be a possibility to continue.
After her first surgery in late August to remove the tumour, histopathology found the lump was a lot bigger, a whole 5.3cm bigger, than originally measured in the tests, of around 2cm. A second surgery followed in early September to remove a larger margin – or non-cancerous tissue – around the removed tumour. Better to be sure! Histopathology results found at this point that the removed margins were riddled with an inconsistent pattern of tumorous “nests”.
Given it was clear that going in for more surgery was a fruitless venture, aside now a mastectomy, and also safely developing beyond the first trimester of pregnancy, Alice has now commenced chemotherapy treatment. Chemo will continue now for the next 6 to 7 months with the intent to stop it at her 35th week of pregnancy in early February to provide her and bubs the best chance for a normal birth untainted or exposed to any chemo. Then back into it. A mastectomy, completion of the chemo and then a course of radiation therapy. In a nutshell.
When she’s good, she’s pretty good. When she’s going through her post-chemo (of what she calls) “drano” periods, she’s pretty well knocked out. Having never been pregnant nor ever had chemo, she undergoes an ongoing guessing game between what is pregnancy nausea and symptoms, and what is a result of the chemo. But on she persists.
So, now I would like to do my bit to help. In honour of everything my sister has been going through and the uphill battle that she still has, I will raising funds from all you amazing people and in return from all your love I will be shaving my head, where 100% of the proceeds with go to the Andrew Love Cancer Centre where Alice is being treated, to ensure they keep doing an amazing job into the future as they have done to date with my sister Alice.
I will be giving this roughly a month and looking to see how good I look bald on the 15th December.
Thank you all again for your support
Mark
Fundraising team (2)
Mark Godycki
Organizer
Wandana Heights VIC
Alice Godycki
Team member
