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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
Kerem Doruk

'Everything else can wait': cancer patient's Mother's Day message

Kaela Maree with her six-year-old son Aston and her 10-year-old daughter Violet. Picture supplied

It happens at the same time every year, but the meaning of Mother's Day can change in an instant.

For 32-year-old Canberra mother-of-two Kaela Maree, this year's Mother's Day means more than celebrating motherhood.

It's all about being present in the lives of your loved ones, a blessing many of us forget to appreciate.

Ms Maree was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, sarcoma, in 2020.

After treatment, she was cleared of the disease for two years before relapsing last July. The cancer is now in her lungs.

But despite her illness, everyday is a blessing and she cherishes every moment with her children.

"When you're faced with your own mortality, those hugs and kisses and even the tantrums are a blessing because I'm here with them," she said.

When she's not bedbound, Ms Maree works as a nurse and volunteers in raising awareness of the disease that has changed her life so profoundly.

Trying to remain as active as possible, her main motivation is her children, and replicating normality for them while she struggles with her health.

"It enables me to show the kids that by going back to work and volunteering there is some form of normality for mum," she said.

"The biggest thing I say is I'm more than the bad things that happened to me."

And Ms Maree already had more than the average person's knowledge of how cancer can turn lives upside down - before she was diagnosed, she worked as an oncology cancer nurse.

This has given her a unique perspective about being a patient, having cared for so many herself.

She continues to work part-time in the emergency department at the Canberra Hospital, has launched an advocacy platform and won a nursing award.

Sarcoma is one the rarest forms of cancer, making up only one per cent of adult cancers.

It affects the bone, cartilage and soft tissues. Ms Maree had never even heard of it before her diagnosis.

"If I didn't have a health background, I wouldn't have known half the things that I did," Ms Maree said.

Ms Maree is raising awareness about sarcoma on her Instagram account Sorarity because she says there isn't enough information out there to access.

"We're being left to fend for ourselves, because there isn't enough information - and there hasn't been any advancements to research studies in over a decade," Ms Maree said.

Next week, she'll be travelling to Sydney for a double-sided thoracotomy operation where both sides of her chest will be cut open so her lungs can be treated by doctors.

Her only priority on Sunday will be hanging out with six-year-old Aston and 10-year-old Violet.

"Everything else can wait," she said.

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