By Annette Campbell
Just four days before what was to be the happiest day of her life, Glenys Cook heard the words all women fear: “It’s breast cancer”.
“I went into shock, just started trembling and shaking,” she recalls of that moment in her specialist’s office. “I didn’t cry at first. I think the shock took over.”
In less than a week, on November 27, 2004, Glenys was to marry her fiancé Steve and they’d planned to honeymoon in New Zealand.
But everything changed after she heard those words.
“About a week before, I’d noticed a lump in my right breast,” explains Glenys, 47. “I saw my GP on the Saturday and on the Monday had a mammogram and ultrasound. I also had a needle biopsy. On the Tuesday, I was told I had malignant breast cancer.
“I was advised that surgery would be best done quickly, so we cancelled our honeymoon, but went ahead with the wedding,” she explains.
“The hardest part was letting everyone know about the diagnosis and that there might be a few extra tears.”
Glenys and Steve wed at their property near Orange, NSW, on that perfect spring day. “It was beautiful … perfect,” says Glenys. “It was on our 15ha property and our rose bushes were out in full bloom.”
But once that day was over, the newlyweds turned their attention directly to defying this cancer.
“More tests came through that showed the cancer was quite aggressive,” Glenys explains. “I had surgery on December 8 — a lumpectomy and 25 lymph nodes were removed.”
Glenys has since had two courses of chemotherapy — the last finished on August 19 — plus radiotherapy and is now determined she’ll have a positive result.
“It’s still too early to say … we just have to cross our fingers and hope and get on with life,” she smiles. “Oh, and we’re going on our honeymoon at
Christmas-time … to Europe!”
And along with loads of other women this month, Glenys is hosting a Girls Night In.
“It’s an enjoyable way of raising money for breast cancer and other cancers,” she says. “I’m looking forward to it … it’ll be fun!”
