BARBECURE SUPERSTAR FUNDRAISER: SHELLEY DAYS
We hear from our incredible fundraiser Shelley Days and the special reason why she hosted a BarbeCURE.
Since July 2018, our BarbeCURE fundraisers have done a fantastic job of raising over $240,000 for cancer research. We’ve seen all different types of BarbeCURES being hosted and our fundraisers have told us their inspiring reasons on why they’re getting involved.
For Shelley Days, this was her chance to celebrate being cancer-free.
SHELLEY’S STORY
It was the day after the 2018 Commonwealth Games that Shelley’s life changed. For the last four months, she had been passing blood intermittently before finally booking a colonoscopy to check her symptoms.
“I went into the procedure feeling hopeful that they would find nothing serious, but I was very mistaken!” says Shelley. “When I woke up, I was told they had found cancer in my bowel. I remember lying there in shock with tears slowly rolling down my face. The nurses were amazing, they wheeled me off to get a CT and one nurse stayed with me the whole time just holding my hand as I cried.”
Shelley felt as though her life had been turned upside down, but was determined to not let this terrible disease take control of her. “I had to be strong to get through this, so I gave my tumour a name - Trevor the tumour. I felt that if I gave it a name it wouldn’t be as scary! I even got my friend to draw a picture of Trevor!”
After a long surgery to remove Trevor and her lymph nodes, Shelley then endured extensive rounds of chemotherapy with the fear of not knowing what would happen. “Chemo was every two weeks for 3 days. The first round hit me hard, but I had a focus - October 31st was my final treatment date. I kept count of how many rounds were to go and celebrated each small milestone.”
When October 31 finally arrived, her results came in with the news she had been waiting for – her cancer had become NED (no evidence of disease).
CELEBRATING GOOD NEWS
Now heading towards being six months clear, Shelley wanted to celebrate and throw a party to thank her loved ones for their support. “Cancer isn’t just hard on the patients, it's hard on those that support them. The family and friends, the work colleagues and not forgetting the doctors and nurses that are there with us every step of the way. Without my amazing network, I don’t know how I would have got through this.”
After browsing the TV one night, she came across an ad for BarbeCURE and googled to find out more. “What I really liked about Cure Cancer is that they doesn’t focus on one type of cancer. Bowel cancer isn’t a popular cancer to market (no one wants to talk about poo!), yet it is the second most common cancer,” says Shelley. “Cure Cancer funds researchers that are early in their careers when it’s hardest to get funding for research grants - let’s hope we can find a way to Cure Cancer for good!”
We would like to express our sincere thanks to Shelley for fundraising for Cure Cancer and for sharing her story with us. Shelley hosted her BarbeCURE during the Easter break - show your support for Shelley and help her reach her fundraising goal by donating to her page today: