Home for Christmas: Lizzy’s Story

Within 24 hours doctors had identified an 11cm tumour on her chest and told her to prepare for the worst.

“Because it was in the middle of COVID, I went to the hospital for tests and saw the specialists alone,” said Lizzy, who moved to Melbourne from Canada eight years ago.

“When they told me I had Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, I didn’t believe it.”

“Then I just panicked –I felt like it was the worst news you could get.”

Over the next six months, Lizzy endured eight rounds of chemotherapy, 21 days of radiation therapy and was admitted to hospital twice with severe pneumonia.

“Because visitors weren’t permitted at that time, the clinicians kind of became like therapists – supporting me when it would have been easy to feel quite alone.”

With the help at home of her husband and her mum, who arrived from Canada after a lengthy exemption application process, Lizzy was declared in remission by the middle of her treatment.

 “I’ve been in survival mode for so long, I don’t think the reality of being in remission has hit me yet,” she says, reflecting on the significant milestone.

The pilates instructor, who credits the practice with keeping her mentally strong when she may not have felt so physically, will return to face-to-face teaching in January.

“I’m really looking forward to getting back in the studio – that’s going to be a really special moment for me.”

“Having cancer has given me a new perspective on life. I’m not really worried about materialistic things anymore. I’m just happy to be alive.”

With Christmas days away, and the holiday season in full swing, Lizzy has a very simple vision for this year’s celebrations.

“This Christmas I’m just looking forward to relaxing and not thinking about cancer.”

“To complete treatment a couple of days out from Christmas is the best present I could get.”

For the second instalment in our Home for Christmas series, read on for Joe's story.