I was all bruised up after an active snowboarding trip at 31. I had no idea that they were the first sign of a deadly illness looming in my body

Kate Yardy had been enjoying a snow trip when she first noticed the bruises covering her body.

While she wasn’t immediately concerned, that quickly changed when she felt an unusual lump near her armpit when running her hand over the swelling.

‘When I found the lump I was nervous… it didn’t feel normal,’ Kate, a fit and healthy manager from Sydney, told Daily Mail Australia.

‘I wasn’t sure what to make of it but knew that it would be best to get checked.’

Two weeks later, she was handed a shock diagnosis. She had breast cancer at 31.

‘My heart dropped in an instant and this sudden rush of numbness rushed over my body, I just froze,’ Kate, now 32, recalled. 

‘My GP continued speaking to me but it was as though I couldn’t hear anything. My thoughts and imagination ran wild as I tried to make sense of what was happening. I pictured myself dying and missing out on everything that life has to offer.’

As her condition deteriorated over the following months, Kate went from being an active woman in her 30s to fighting for her life in the body of what felt like a ‘sick 90-year-old’.

Before the devastating diagnosis, Kate led a seemingly normal life.

Kate said she was very active, ate well, enjoyed working out at the gym and took her dogs for regular walks. 

But she knew something was not right shortly after noticing the bruises she endured during a ‘rough’ snowboarding trip with her partner in September 2023. 

After feeling the lump on her right breast, she went straight to her GP the next day who booked her in for a mammogram, ultrasound and a biopsy. 

‘I was really nervous and had a gut feeling that it was not going to be good news,’ she explained. 

‘When I saw my GP again, he told me the words that nobody should ever hear, “Your test results have come back, unfortunately you have metastatic carcinoma”.’

Her maternal auntie and paternal grandmother were both diagnosed with breast cancer in their late 50s so she knew there was a history on both her dad’s and mum’s side of the family.

But she never imagined she would be given a stage 2B breast cancer diagnosis at 31.

According to National Breast Cancer Foundation, stage 2B breast cancer is when there’s a tumour, measuring between 2-5cm in size, and the cancer has spread to one to three lymph nodes in the armpit.

‘I thought that I was “too young”,’ Kate explained.

‘I thought about the possibility of my family losing me and it just broke my heart.

‘When I left my GP I instantly called my brother to tell him the news. Both my parents were on holiday in Europe at the time and I dreaded the thought of having to tell them while they were away.’

Kate decided to drive from Sydney to Mudgee where her brother lived so he could help her plan the ‘best way’ to tell their parents about her diagnosis. 

‘With the support of my brother, we called my parents together. It’s one thing to be told about your diagnosis, but telling your parents who you are so close to is another thing entirely,’ she explained. 

‘They wanted to book the first flight back to Sydney but I wouldn’t let them. I didn’t want to ruin their trip further and asked for them to soak up all the good times while they could as I knew this new chapter in my life would not allow for much travel.’

Just three weeks following her diagnosis, her beloved dog Miso died. Her condition deteriorated after a vet found a large cancerous mass in her bowel.

‘The day after her 13th birthday I had to say goodbye to my little ‘therapy pup’. Being told that I had cancer just to lose my dog to cancer weeks after was an unimaginable pain that has greatly scarred me,’ Kate said.

‘We did everything together, she was my sidekick in life, and to lose her to cancer was beyond heartbreaking.’

Before going through with cancer treatment, Kate was told she may not be able to conceive naturally so she needed to freeze her eggs.

‘I made a point that I definitely wanted to have children in the future, so we started planning the IVF process to retrieve my eggs,’ she said. 

‘The type of chemotherapy that I had planned on the horizon threatened my chances of being able to conceive, so I was totally on board with doing what I needed to do to ensure that I could still have children when I’m ready down the track.’

After her egg retrieval, she spent the next six months undergoing ‘intense’ chemotherapy, a double mastectomy, surgery to remove 13 lymph nodes and radiotherapy.

‘My treatment has been one hell of a roller coaster,’ she said.

‘(Chemo) broke me… I met the weakest versions of myself, but also the strongest too. I would think to myself, “If I can survive this, then I can survive anything”.

‘I knew that I had to throw everything that I possibly could at beating this cancer.’

Kate was put onto hormone therapy, which is a cancer treatment that slows or stops the growth of cancer that uses hormones to grow. 

‘My hormone therapy has forced me into menopause,’ she said. 

‘One of my doctors described that I would feel like a “sick elderly 90-year-old woman” – and she was absolutely correct. I’m not as able bodied as I used to be, I’m always in pain one way or the other and it takes a lot to get my body moving.’

She said her treatments were ‘incredibly debilitating’ and the experience was ‘life altering’. 

‘I was fighting for my life every day, constantly pushing through all the awful side effects that I was experiencing,’ she said. 

‘During IVF and chemotherapy my body changed so much – thanks to steroids, stress, lack of sleep and countless medications I started to gain quite a lot of weight over the course of this time, no matter what I ate.’

After her second round of chemo, she was feeling ‘adamant’ about celebrating her 32nd birthday with her friends at her brother’s farm in Mudgee. 

‘We had the most lovely weekend but my long blonde hair was falling out every time I touched it and it was incredibly confronting,’ she explained.

‘I couldn’t bare the anguish of slowly losing my hair each day, so I pulled out a razor and told my friends that enough was enough, I wanted them to help me shave it. 

‘I then spend the afternoon having each of my friends shave off a part of my hair… We were crying, we were laughing, but most importantly I felt supported and loved by those around me. 

‘I turned what would have been a very isolating and sad experience into one that helped to minimise those feelings. Definitely a birthday party that I’ll never forget.’

As she went through multiple rounds of treatment, Kate said she fell ill after experiencing most of the side effects she was warned about.

‘I was constantly sick, trying to deal with each day as it came, and each day my side effects would change and would be unpredictable,’ she recalled. 

‘During chemo thanks to my nausea and dizziness I fell down my stairs and broke my ankle, ending up in a moonboot during treatment.’

Kate had to learn how to walk again – twice in the space of two months – after her ‘hectic’ procedures left her unable to move. 

‘Right before I left the hospital my surgeon told me that my pathology results came back and that while my surgery was successful in removing the lumps, my cancer did spread just beyond my lymph node which was new information to me,’ she said. 

‘I was exhausted, sore, and petrified of this new information after going through everything that I had already experienced.’

Kate started 25 daily sessions of radiotherapy from mid-July.

‘I slowly watched my breast and chest turn more red by the day. Towards the end my skin started to burn, sting, and peel off,’ she explained. 

‘When I started radiotherapy, I began to lose all the weight that I had put on during chemotherapy.

‘I finished radiotherapy just the other week on August 21, my side effects from this will get worse before it gets better.

‘I still have the bandages on and will have to continue this routine for some time.’

Kate has been told her treatments are ‘working’ – but she’s ‘yet to be in the clear’.

‘I’m hoping that proceeding with all the treatments that my doctors have advised for me to take part in will give me a better chance at surviving cancer,’ she said. 

One of the hardest things she’s faced is ‘learning to live’ with her ‘new normal’.

‘Having breast cancer and all of the challenges that come with it changes your perspective greatly on pretty much every aspect of your life – not only in terms of your health, your future, the possibility of death, the unknown, but also your femininity and your self love,’ she said. 

‘While I’m sad that this is my new reality and I do mourn my ‘old life’, I am eternally grateful and so happy to be alive. I’m relieved that I found out when I did, it terrifies me to think of how my life would be if I had discovered my cancer later.’

After being given the green light to go travelling, Kate flew to India on August 28 with her parents and sister for a 10-day holiday. 

‘It’s been nearly a year since my diagnosis so I’m really looking forward to travelling again,’ she said. 

‘Even though my fatigue is through the roof, I’m exhausted mentally and physically… I’m so excited to spend my days exploring rather than going to relentless and never-ending medical appointments.’

By sharing her story, she hopes to ‘make a difference’ and encourage everyone to see a doctor immediately if they notice ‘anything abnormal’.

‘My cancer journey so far has been incredibly confronting and isolating,’ she said. 

‘While I’m lucky and fortunate to have such an incredible support network – fantastic family, friends, work, and doctors, I know that this is an experience I never want to have to go through again. 

‘So don’t delay going to the doctor – go get checked.’

Reflecting back, Kate said if the last year has taught her anything, it’s that ‘life is so bloody precious’.

‘Sometimes the universe has an interesting way of altering the way you perceive your life and how you choose to live it,’ she said.

‘Advocate for yourself, choose to fight for yourself. Know that you are not alone in this battle, as isolating as it may feel. Be kind to yourself and listen to your body. 

‘Celebrate the little wins, because any progress is still progress. Perspective is everything, life is a privilege. The days that break you are also the days that make you. Cancer is tough, but so are we.’

She is sharing her story in support of Chris O’Brien Lifehouse’s ‘Go The Distance’ challenge where participants can swim, bike, run, or walk to help bring life-changing cancer care closer to home for regional patients.

‘While I recover and continue to focus on my own cancer treatments, I want to do more for our local cancer community,’ she said. 

‘With your support, every kilometre we cover will ensure more people across NSW can access life-changing specialist cancer care. 

‘Please support us by making a donation. All donations will help Chris O’Brien Lifehouse provide compassionate, research-driven cancer care.’