Left: Hayley Coutts is glad breast cancer is no longer a huge part of her life.By Sarah Schwager
TYNONG North breast cancer survivor Hayley Coutts has put the past behind her after being first diagnosed 13 years ago.
Breast cancer, she says, is no longer a big part of her life. Hayley, a mother of two, was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was just 25.
In 1999, the Gazette reported that she was working among the community to inform and counsel others in the same situation. But in September 2000, Hayley was rediagnosed with breast cancer.
She said after the shock of being diagnosed again, she did not get back into counselling.
“I’ve written my (biography). It’s sitting there waiting to be published,” Hayley said.
“It was more a therapy than any strange desire to have it published and it’s deeply, deeply personal. Only my mum and my husband have read it.”
She said at the moment breast cancer was at the back of her mind, which was “a great place to be”.
“You see it on the news. It’s very much in the media, which is a great thing. The media attention is great and that’s changed phenomenally over the past 12 years.”
Since 2001, Hayley and husband Lawrie have been involved in dragon boat racing, a popular sport for women with breast cancer. Hayley said there was a risk among women with breast cancer about getting lymphedema, which involves the swelling of the soft tissues of the arm, hand or legs. She said there had been research in Canada about using dragon boat racing as the best method to get active.
Hayley is finishing her Arts degree while working as an integration aide at Beaconhills Secondary College and looking after her two children, Olivia, 15, and Lewis, 10, and wants to get her Diploma of Education.
She is also involved in genetic testing after her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in April.
“It’s a good thing for her in the sense that I’ve had it. She keeps telling me how helpful it’s been,” she said.
Hayley, 38, said she was gunning for her 40th birthday. She said when she was 25, reaching 30 looked like a milestone. “It’s going to be the biggest 40th the shire has ever seen.”
