Meet Sonia
Sonia moved to the Hunter area for love, married her husband, gave birth to her beautiful boy and has been living in the Swansea area for 10 years and feeling very blessed to be here.
“I had no lumps, no bumps, I was really well and went for a routine mammogram and discovered I had breast cancer”. Sonia’s breast cancer was a slow growing lobelia cancer that had been there for a very long time without knowing and had grown quite large. Treatment phase moved very quickly and was an eye-opening experience.
Sonia had a mastectomy followed by an implant surgery and then started her chemotherapy treatment, followed by 5 weeks of daily radiation. Sonia was referred to HBCF to receive support during her treatment.
“Being able to access services for practical assistance like lawn mowing and transport to treatment, especially when my husband was also unwell at the time, the transport getting to daily radiation really helped. The drivers were beautiful and made those trips much nicer, making me feel calm. “That was really helpful.” Not having to rely on family eased stresses for Sonia as she does not have any other family in the local area. “I felt really lucky to have support from HBCF that felt like having family around me.” she said.
Sonia found the process of booking the services really easy. Just a phone call to Marianne, HBCF’s Supportive Care Coordinator, and they took care of the rest.
onia was also able to access to wig library when losing her hair throughout chemotherapy treatment. The wigs were delivered right to her door to try on selected styles and then picked back up after 3 days, keeping the one wig selected along with wonderful wig care products and a wig brush. “You just don’t realise how cold you can get without hair, I was so pleased to have accessed this service”. Sonia said.
Sonia recommends HBCF to anyone in the area going through breast cancer, “They’re so supportive and so kind, the services help not just you but your family aswell.” Sonia feels very grateful to have been directed to HBCF’s team and is now giving back to the organisation that helped her by joining HBCF’s Pink Army of Volunteers.
