Susan’s Story

Susan and Rob

Susan was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2022 whilst she was deputy commander for the local SES and Hay was being flooded. At the time Susan was out at 11 o’clock at night taping up people’s house to protect against flood water and being her mother’s carer – she thought “I haven’t got time for cancer”.  

She has had chemotherapy and radiation followed by 13 hits of immunotherapy. This was followed by another round of radiation which has drastically reduced the lung cancer. Susan had to travel to Wagga (274km) or to Griffith (159km) for her biopsies, PET scan and meeting specialists, and for treatment. Susan and her husband worked out that early on that, with paying upfront for all the cancer medical costs and then waiting to get some back from Medicare, they would only be able to afford the first 2 weeks of her cancer treatment.  

Thank goodness Susan reached out to Can Assist. Can Assist assisted with costs associated with upfront fees for treatment, accommodation at Lilier Lodge, scans, medications, and petrol. “If Can Asist hadn’t been there, I don’t know what we would have done”. 

Susan is still on her cancer journey. You can’t make Susan laugh at the moment as she has cracked ribs from her latest radiation treatment, and she loves to laugh. So far, she has travelled 13,000km in 21 months.  But she still has future scans and medical appointments to travel to. 

Susan got into terrariums as a new hobby, which helped “take your mind off the fact that you’ve got cancer”. Susan is also giving back in her own way, by helping others going through their own cancer journeys by sharing her experiences, via cancer chat groups. She feels that she can help as people “really need to have somebody in their corner” – just as she felt she had Can Assist in her corner.