Writing about cancer is always desperately sad. But when a mum I knew posted on Facebook just 10 days ago that her cancer had returned, I was floored, shattered. The breast cancer she had beaten five years ago was not only back, but had spread to her liver, shoulder, lungs and brain. It was just so utterly cruel. Erin Sorensen is someone who lights up a room, always to be counted on for a fabulous smile and a friendly wave as we drop our kids off at school. But what you quickly realise is that she also has a steely resolve and a no-nonsense positivity.
"She's a really determined sort of person," her husband Michael said, on Wednesday. "If she thinks she can do something, she will do whatever she can to do it."
"I'm determined to not let this beat me," she said.
"Yes," Michael said. "To do everything we can..."
"To kick its arse!" Erin said, with a laugh and that smile again. She's not going to take this lying down.
Even as she sits at home in Oxley recuperating from shoulder surgery from just last Friday, when a prosthetic was put in after it was discovered the cancer had literally eaten away at her bone, Erin, 37, will only consider one outcome.
"I don't want to know the worst-case [scenario]. I just want to do everything I can to treat it and beat it," she said, as her children Riley, 9, Isaac, 7, and Mia, 5, bounced around the lounge room.
Erin's face might be familiar to anyone who takes part in the Mother's Day Classic fun run and walk in Canberra. She and her family were front and centre of last year's event, bedecked in pink. She was planning to be there again this year. Her registration pack arrived on Tuesday.
"I've been supporting it for the last five years, since my treatment ended, but Mum and I would do it even before then as a great thing to do together on Mother's Day," she said.
"It's just a great day. It's my favourite day. I always cry when I cross the finish line. It's such a heavy emotional weight taken off."
In the face of coronavirus, the Mother's Day Classic this year is going virtual. Participants are being challenged to walk or run four kilometres or eight kilometres, any time, anywhere - be it in the park, backyard, or lounge room, on or before Mother's Day on May 10. Registrations are at mothersdayclassic.com.au and all proceeds go to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that supports research into breast cancer prevention and treatment.
"This is about raising money for research and that is what is going to save lives," she said.
Erin was diagnosed with the return of the cancer only last month, but it was a long road to get there. She had 18 months earlier been suffering from a sore shoulder, and nothing seemed to fix it. By the end of March, she also felt a couple of very small, mosquito bite-size bumps on her arm. Her physiotherapist also noticed the bumps and said, given her history, she should get them checked out. She went that afternoon to the GP and very quickly had a shoulder ultrasound, chest X-ray and needle biopsy of the lumps.
A few days later, she was alone at the Erindale shopping centre, trying to get groceries in the midst of the coronavirus hoarding madness, when she got a call from her doctor telling her the results were back and she "better come in". She broke down, left her trolley standing where it was and phoned Michael.
"And from there, it's just been spiralling and spiralling and spiralling into a big hole," she said.
Erin, in just a matter of a few weeks, has had countless scans, X-rays, MRIs and tests to determine the extent of the cancer. She has been diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer that has metastasized, spreading to other parts of her body. Her sore arm was the cancer corroding the bone. It was close to breaking all the way through before it was discovered.
"It all just happened so fast. There was a spot on my lungs, on my liver, on my brain. I didn't even cry when [the doctor] told me. I think I was just in such shock," she said.
She can't help but think about the fact it now seems the breast cancer from five years ago was not completely eradicated. She was having yearly scans for breast cancer but was given no scans to detect the possibility of the cancer spreading to elsewhere in her body.
Erin starts chemotherapy next week. She is hopeful relatively new drugs will make an impact. She will know for sure if it has made a difference after the six rounds are completed in about August.
"People can go into remission for stage-four cancer, so that really gives me hope," she said.
"My breast care nurse said people with my cancer are still living 10 years on, still having treatment, but still alive 10 years on.
"The Breast Cancer Foundation has the aim of no breast cancer deaths by 2030. I keep that in the back of my mind - if I can be alive in 10 years, who knows what things they will be doing, what treatments they'll have developed?"
A public servant, Erin used most of her leave from last time she was treated for her breast cancer. Michael works for Capital Certifiers. A friend started a GoFundMe page to raise $15,000 to allow her to fight the disease while not working. Since being launched on April 20, the page has raised $33,100 and counting.
"It has just given us such peace of mind and we're so thankful that I can get treatment without having to worry about work," she said.
It has not been easy in the slightest. Erin said she felt "hammered" by the tests and surgery last week. Then there is the fact she is battling cancer in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic. As she says, her world has shifted in just a matter of weeks.
She is getting support across the community. Well-known in the world of calisthenics, Erin teachers masters students. They have drawn up a roster to cook meals for the family. The children's school, St Anthony's in Wanniassa, has been on board with help. Family is helping in every way possible. Parcels arrive in the post for the kids from an aunty as we talk.
Erin smiles again. You cannot imagine any other alternative than her winning this fight of her life.
At the end of that Facebook post 10 days ago when she she told family and friends that the cancer had returned, she simply vowed: "I will fight this beast with everything I have".
