Surviving Breast Cancer: Rola Almalak
To mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October, breast cancer warrior Rola Almalak shares an insight into her personal cancer journey and the important lessons she has learnt along the way…
Rola (middle) with her family
If you asked me to tell you about myself before my cancer journey, I would have said this: I’m Rola, a Lebanese Australian, married with 3 beautiful children and an IT professional.
But in November 2017, everything changed.
The day started off like any other. I got ready for work, got the kids ready for school. And then my phone rang.
It was the doctor. ‘Mrs Almalak’, she said. ‘You need to come and see us today.’
I had a full day planned and a busy schedule, but I made few arrangements and went to the hospital. A couple of years before I’d found a lump in my breast and thankfully it was benign, so I wasn’t too worried. Since then, I’d been guilty of not keeping up to date with my scans until one of my friends got diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. It really shook me up, so I pulled out the script from under a pile in my drawer and went and did the scans.
My doctor asked me why I’d chosen to have the mammogram now, and when I explained it to her she said to me ‘Go thank your friend because you have a stage 2 breast cancer.’
My reaction was to laugh, get up and go to work. I was in complete denial! I’m very healthy. I exercise, I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I don’t have a family history. I do all the right things. I don’t even have vegetable oil in my household!
Once I’d come to terms with the diagnosis, I had to accept that my life had changed. Before, it felt like I had everything in order. The next thing I knew, I was a terrified, overwhelmed cancer patient on a conveyor belt. I had an operation soon after the diagnosis, followed by six months of chemotherapy and 45 days of daily radiation. Some might say I had the works!
Cancer treatment is predictable. For a week after chemo I would be very ill and unwell. I would gradually improve so that by the third week I would feel well enough to have friends over, go out and socialise or even throw a party! Looking forward to events during cancer treatment is a like a light at the end of the tunnel.
Thankfully, I trusted my medical team completely and did everything they advised me to do. I’m also very fortunate to be surrounded by love, which really helped me to cope. I couldn’t have got through everything without the support of my husband, my children, my friends and my family who flew from around the world to hold my hand.
“I refused to be defined by cancer, which is one of the reasons I decided to continue working throughout my treatment. Cancer makes everything feel abnormal, and work helped me retain a sense of normality.”
Cancer claimed my life for 11 months and taught me many things. I have always been a grateful person but certainly not grateful enough. My illness was wakeup call - we are so fortunate, but we take things for granted. We all have more than what we think - if you have your health, you have everything. These days, I try to remember to be grateful…
- I’m grateful for running my fingers through my hair
- I’m grateful for the taste buds I have - chemotherapy damages all taste buds and makes every meal taste like sucking on metal.
- I’m grateful for the grit and resilience I didn’t know my children had
- I’m grateful for my beautiful friends
- I’m grateful that I’m here for me and for my family
Because of the treatment, I lost all my hair, eyebrows and lashes and couldn’t recognise myself. One day my little one who was 4 at the time said to me ‘Mummy I don’t like your bald head, but I respect that it’s your choice!’ That was an aha moment! I couldn’t remember the last time I did something without thinking of everyone around me. Leading a busy life, packed with work and family commitments had meant I’d dropped most of the things I loved – things like long runs along the beach before work, singing, dancing…
Post cancer journey, I am a different person. Rola, a beach lover, a dancer, an optimist and a humble cancer warrior
Thanks to research, I am so incredibly happy to say that I am now 100% cancer free! I go through routine check-ups and scans and am so grateful that these have remained clear.
So many of my loved ones have been impacted by cancer. If you’re reading this, I’m sure you too have been touched by the disease in one way or another. No one should die from cancer. By donating to Cure Cancer, you’re helping to fund cancer research that we are all in desperate need of. Please donate generously so we can live in a world where cancer no longer poses a threat.
Rola with her children
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