Pakenham’s Pauline Stivey is taking on the Great Victorian Bike Ride despite only learning to ride this year and after surviving a long battle with cancer. Pauline was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease in April 1993 after a lump the size of an AFL football was discovered in her chest.
Hodgkin’s disease is a cancer that starts in the lymph nodes and related organs that are part of the body’s immune and blood-forming systems.
After six months of chemotherapy, her blood would not recover and so on 25 January the following year Pauline underwent an immature bone marrow transplant, followed by six weeks of radiation treatment.
The mother of five managed not only to beat the disease but is now taking on one of the most gruelling amateur rides in Australia with her son Jarrod, who was only four-months-old when she was diagnosed.
The VicRoads Great Victorian Bike Ride, coincidentally partnered by the Bone Marrow Institute, is a 570 kilometre ride over nine days starting this Saturday (26 November) and ending on 4 December.
Pauline has been training since June with Jarrod, now 13. She had never previously ridden a bike.
“I love it with a passion. I love the time I have just to think, the time on my own,” she said.
Pauline had already signed up when she saw that the Bone Marrow Institute was a charity partner and said she could not believe it.
She said she was training hard for the Great Victorian Bike Ride despite only having 1.5 lung capacity.
“I don’t do this type of thing very easily,” she said.
“If I could get a sponsor then that would be great.”
Pauline battled for two years to get over the effects of the disease.
She said the cancer and subsequent treatments and radiation has left her with pneumonia.
She said the last major bout in December 1994 meant she had to be treated in hospital.
“I was twice told to get my affairs in order,” she said.
“It was very traumatic. It was touch and go a few times.”
Pauline said it was much harder on her family than on her, particularly her husband, Ron.
“He had a business to run and a family of five to look after.”
Her husband, mother and aunt took responsibility of caring for Pauline and the children, with her mum coming down from Yarrawonga for 15 months.
“My sister was really good as well, particularly for my support,” she said.
“During the transplant she was there every day.”
Pauline said her two youngest babies Jarrod, four months, and Garth, 22 months, had been great for getting her back on her feet.
“All the kids gave me the purpose to live. But babies are so self-concerned, I didn’t have time to think about myself.
“I was able to sit for two years and play with them. They got so much attention.
“I had something to focus on besides myself.”
She said each of her children had reacted differently to the illness.
“The older ones knew too much. They were terribly afraid.”
She said her second son, Joel, now 24 but only 11 at the time, would not look at her.
Her eldest, Ben, 12, now 25, cried a lot and wanted cuddles while her daughter, Yvonne, 9, now 21, pretended nothing was wrong but had a teacher assigned to her at school as an outlet for discussing her concerns.
“It took about four years to get over (from last being sick until 1999) until I actually started feeling reasonable again.”
Pauline said she decided to start at a gym in Beaconsfield with a trainer to get back to a healthy state.
She said throughout the treatment she had a naturopath who advised on nutrients and dietary needs to help her body recover.
“I love exercise, so that wasn’t a problem,” she said.
She said she was doing well with her training.
“The fitness kicks in. My lungs are good until I get to a hill.”
She said she had recently had a test to see how quickly her body was degenerating.
“I’m 48 and my body is degenerating at the rate of a 42-year-old.
“I’ve completely turned my body around.”
She said that compared to a lot of people her age she tried to live healthy, taking vitamins, eating well and exercising regularly.
Pauline also works at the family business, Australian Egg Company in Pakenham, which supplies fresh and frozen products to the food industry.
Pauline’s three eldest children and her husband are all involved.
Pauline said she and Ron had been married for 28 years and had worked together for 32 years.
“We have a Cheap Grocery in Moe which Yvonne runs. Joel runs the store and Ben runs the trucks.”
She said the Cheap Grocery stores, in Pakenham and Moe, had only started three years ago but had ‘really taken off’.
Pauline does administrative work for the company.
“I love working but family comes first,” she said. “It is probably the illness that has done that. You definitely re-evaluate your life – your position and what you want out of life.”
Healthy living is now at the forefront of Pauline’s life and she has put her whole family through liver cleansing diets, blood tests to see how their body is functioning and many other health regimes.
“They’re so well informed about so much now. They know they should eat properly and exercise,” she said.
“They’ve seen me go from a pathetic wafer-thin stick who couldn’t get off a chair to someone who’s going to ride in the Great Victorian Bike Ride.
“They think ‘if she can do it, I can do it’.”
