Why I'm fundraising 🩷
Five years ago, I was going through breast cancer treatment.
Anyone who has been through cancer knows how quickly your life can be turned upside down. And for someone like me who likes to feel pretty in control of my life, suddenly everything felt completely out of my control.
There was so much waiting. Waiting for tests. Waiting for results. Waiting for appointments. Waiting for answers. And half the time, not really knowing what was going to happen next.
One of the things that made an enormous difference to me during that time was having Deidre, my McGrath Breast Care Nurse.
I had her phone number.
It sounds like such a simple thing, but knowing that when I was scared, confused or waiting for answers, I had someone I could actually call who understood what I was going through, it made such a massive difference.
I remember thinking at the time how incredibly lucky I was to have that support, and how sad it was that people going through other types of cancer didn't necessarily have access to the same thing.
That's why I think it's amazing that McGrath Cancer Care Nurses now support people experiencing all types of cancer.
This year I celebrated a pretty special milestone, five years cancer-free.
And I want to use it to give something back.
So this October I'm taking on my 5 Years, 5K a Day challenge.
I'll walk or jog 5km every day for 31 days - 155km in total and donate $5 a day myself.
I'm inviting anyone who wants to join me to do the same, raise their own $155, come along for some of the walks, donate a few dollars or simply support us along the way.
And we'll finish October together with a Pink 5K Walk/Jog in Cairns and a social catch-up afterwards.
My goal is to raise $5,000 to help more people going through cancer have access to the kind of support that made such a difference to me.
5 years cancer-free.
5km a day.
$5 a day.
$5K goal .
Because when your whole world has suddenly been turned upside down, having someone at the other end of the phone can mean more than you could ever imagine.
Fundraiser details
Date: 01/10/2026 - 31/10/2026
Throughout October, I’ll be marking five years cancer-free by taking on my 5 Years, 5K a Day, $5 a Day Challenge.
I’ll walk 5km every day for 31 days - 155km in total and donate $5 each day. I’m inviting friends, family and anyone who wants to get involved to join me for the full challenge, join me for a walk, donate, or raise their own $155 along the way.
At the end of October, we’ll come together in Cairns for a final social Pink 5K Walk, followed by a catch-up to celebrate and hopefully reach our $5,000 fundraising goal
Thank you for your support
$1,000
The Busy Group
$168.72
Chelle
A great cause, and a great excuse to get my steps up!! Thanks Hilde, I’m in ❤️
$168.72
Hilde Brunnbauer
$55.95
Drew
$28.81
Anonymous
$28.81
Regional Media Training
Thank you Hilde for sharing your journey and encouraging us all to live more and move more.
My Post
Day 10 – The Part Nobody Really Talks About ❤️
All this walking gives you a hell of a lot of time to think. And today my mind wandered to something I don't think we talk about enough.Life after cancer.
When you have cancer, everyone rallies around you. You go through treatment, you get the all-clear, everyone celebrates, and life goes on.
And don't get me wrong, it's bloody amazing to get to the other side.
But here's the thing. Cancer never really leaves you.
Not completely.
And I reckon anyone who's been through it will know exactly what I mean.
Today I was taking a selfie on my walk, and there it was. That sunken bit of my chest near my collarbone. A little reminder.
Other days it's putting on a bikini and seeing the tiny tattoos left behind from the radiation that never happened.
Or getting a run of migraines and suddenly your mind goes somewhere you really don't want it to go.
Has it spread? Is it in my brain?
I know that might sound ridiculous to someone who hasn't been through it, but that's the reality. You don't necessarily dwell on it, and you certainly don't want to, but it's always somewhere in the back of your mind.
And then October rolls around. Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Social media is flooded with stories. Beautiful survival stories, heartbreaking stories, and stories of women whose cancer has come back.
And as much as I love seeing the awareness, sometimes it's a lot.
Because there's always that little voice.
Will it come back? And if it does, when?
Then there's the other side of social media. All the advice about what causes cancer and how to avoid it.
Don't eat this. Don't put that on your skin. Eat alkaline. Avoid this chemical. Do this, don't do that.
And look, I know most of it comes from a good place.
But I've also seen people do absolutely EVERYTHING right and still lose their lives to cancer.
And that's the part that gets me.
Because if there's one thing cancer has taught me, it's this.
Fucking LIVE YOUR LIFE.
Enjoy your food. Have the steak. Drink the wine if you want to. Go on the holiday. Laugh until your stomach hurts. Surround yourself with awesome people. Make memories.
Look after your health, absolutely. But don't get so caught up in trying to do everything perfectly that you forget to actually enjoy being alive.
Because I can tell you, when you're lying in a hospital bed going through treatment, you're not thinking, Shit, I wish I hadn't eaten that steak.
You're thinking about all the things you still want to do. The people you love. The experiences you want to have. And how much you just want to get back out there and LIVE.
And I suppose that's what this whole 5 Years, 5K a Day challenge is really about for me.
Yes, it's about raising money and awareness. Yes, it's about getting moving again.
But it's also about celebrating the fact that I'm still here, five years on, getting to do all these ordinary little things that suddenly don't feel so ordinary anymore.
I don't want this post to sound negative, because I'm genuinely so bloody grateful.
I just want people to understand that getting the all-clear doesn't mean everything magically goes back to normal.
Sometimes the physical scars heal long before the mental ones do.
And sometimes you can be absolutely loving life, feeling fantastic, and still have that little voice in the back of your mind.
Both things can be true.
So if there's one thing I hope you take from my ramblings today, it's this.
Don't wait for something life-changing to remind you how precious life is.
Get out there. Do the things. Spend time with your people. Stop sweating the small stuff.
Anyway, that's enough deep thinking for one morning.
Day 10. Another 5K. And another day I'm bloody grateful to be here. 💗
