Ella Scown was preparing to move to Canada when she found a lump in her breast. Not confident about the prices of healthcare overseas, the 29-year-old lawyer booked a quick check-up.

“My GP said don’t be worried,” says Ella. “[She told me] people your age have less than a 2 per cent chance of getting breast cancer. But just to be careful, we’ll do an ultrasound.”

A few tests later, Ella and her partner Lewis were called in to see a specialist.

“We got put into a room and were made to wait for a very long time, about an hour by ourselves. So, you spiral. Eventually, three people walked in with this massive folder.

‘I just went into shock’ (sidehead)

“I was like: ‘Oh no, this is not going to be good’. The first thing they said was: ‘You have breast cancer’. After that, I don’t remember anything. I just went into shock …”

The diagnosis – triple-negative breast cancer – came two days before her flight to Vancouver. Ella cancelled her flights and moved in with her parents.

“The first step was fertility preservation – a course of injections and a procedure to remove the eggs.”

The first chemotherapy rounds were manageable, though Ella found losing her hair to be psychologically traumatic. The second round was brutal.

“It was so bad. It was this red liquid they call the ‘red devil’ and it was pumped through a port into my chest. I was taking 30 tablets every day to stop feeling sick…That lasted about eight weeks.”

The Lion’s Lodge

After chemotherapy Ella needed surgery to remove what was left of the cancer, then radiation treatments. While preparing for radiation, Ella realised the immense toll it would take travelling to Waikato Hospital each day for four weeks. Thankfully she was able to stay at the Cancer Society’s Lions Lodge.

“Staying at the lodge changed a month of my life and made it a lot easier,” she says.

“I felt less stressed because I wasn’t having to sit in traffic for hours, and it removed the guilt associated with having a support person give up that much time Monday to Friday for four weeks.

“I spoke to so many people in the lodge who wouldn’t have had access to their treatment if they had not had the lodge. It changes the whole experience being able to stay there.”

Ella has finished treatment and is looking ahead to her future travels. “The outcome of the chemotherapy and surgery is good. Although my plans had to change, I’m still hoping to move overseas.”

Chance to donate

On August 30-31, some 8000 yellow high-viz-clad volunteers will be on streets across NZ with daffodil pins and fresh daffodils to collect donations for Daffodil Day.

Donations can be made online at: daffodilday.org.nz, at any ANZ bank, and anywhere a daffodil day QR code is displayed.