My Blog

Audrey’s Story
May 2009

My name is Audrey Rose Myrden born May 4, 1967 in Sydney, Nova Scotia Canada. I was the last of 9 children to Cornelius and Claire Quinlan. My Mother was of Scottish decent and my Father was Irish.  My Father was incredibly hard working and had a very strong sense of pride. My Mother was an amazing woman who was an incredible cook and baker.  A lot of people in my family say that I most resemble my Mother. (They obviously never tried my cooking) I think I definitely have traits of both parents.

When I was 15, my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer and died 1 year later at the age of 56. I was 16 years old and my world fell apart. It would only be 2 years later that my Father passed away. I am sure from a broken heart. I truly felt abandoned and orphaned.

At the age of 19 I moved to Calgary Canada where I met my husband Barry. It was love at first site for both of us.

I spent my early twenties modeling for different companies and finding my feet in the working world. I had a few opportunities to travel abroad but never took them. I was quite comfortable working in Canada. It seemed safe and secure.

Barry and I decided to break that pattern and travel after getting married. We had an opportunity to go to the Philippines where we spent approximately 6 months. It was a great experience and one that I would suggest everyone should experience.

After seeing many parts of this country, we decided to move on to Australia. I had always wanted to go there. The minute we landed we were in heaven. We instantly fell in love with Manly which is 12 km from the city centre of Sydney.  It took us a while to adjust to being back in Western Civilization with all its creature comforts.
We found the people incredibly friendly and helpful.  Barry quickly found a job and we settled into the quaint community beach suburb.
I felt truly at home for the first time in years.
I quickly scoped the scene for possible work and decided that I wanted to work at one of my favorite restaurants on the beach front called “the Barking Frog.” My interview with the owner, who was only 19 at the time, lasted 2½ hours. We both instantly had a connection, and I walked away feeling like I was on cloud nine. For a year we enjoyed working and holidaying in what we considered Paradise.  We were living the life most people only dream about.

One day I found a small lump in my breast and decided to get it looked at. My Doctor immediately referred me to the Breast Cancer clinic in Sydney. After several tests, mammograms and biopsies they suggested a mastectomy or lumpectomy at the very least. We were devastated. We immediately made plans to return to Canada. It took three months to get a result after returning to Canada. A lumpectomy followed and my Surgeon was happy that he got absolutely everything. Pathology came back inconclusive with abnormal cells but fortunately it was found at a very early stage.  I did all of this without my family knowing. Until I knew what I was dealing with I did not want to worry anyone. As it turned out I had to notify everyone as I now represented a new generation of breast cancer in my family.  I was so lucky….. I would have several tests every three months for years afterwards. I was told to try and get pregnant and breast feed the children and that would lower my chance s of it returning. It worked.

It took us almost two years to organize our lives to return to Manly, Australia. Barry was being sponsored by his old boss who gave me automatic working privileges. I returned to my old role at “the Frog” as Manager or “Head Chief” as the owner Elise McSweeny would call me. The McSweeny family would become our surrogate family away from home. Johnny, Elise’s Father, became a very inspirational father figure to me as well.

At age 34 I became pregnant with my first child Charlie. He was born on Dec 30th 2002. This was, quite honestly, the happiest day of my life. Motherhood was everything I dreamt about and more.

When Charlie was 8 months old I became pregnant with Jack. We were thrilled to say the least. Jack was born June 7, 2004. It was a normal delivery and admittedly much easier second time around. We experienced some major sleep deprivation during his early months. The challenges were tough at times. When Jack was 2 he contracted the “Tech” virus which was one of the scariest things that ever happened to our family. He was rushed to the Children’s Hospital to immediately undergo 2 blood transfusions. At the time the doctors were unsure of what caused his extremely low blood count and were discussing terms like Leukemia or bone cancer! Five days later we learned it was indeed a virus and he would recover completely. What a worry.

Later that year, my family in Canada contacted me with bad news.
My brother Kevin was electrocuted and was killed instantly. I went home to the funeral without the kids or Barry and felt absolutely numb. I only went for 6 days including travel time. I felt I barely had time to grieve. My heart went out to his wife Wanda and their 2 boys. My brother was a devoted father and selfless person who organized and ran the “Coats for Kids” charity in Eastern Canada. He left a beautiful legacy to his family. It certainly helped with the grieving process when I retuned to Australia.

My third son, beautiful Declan, came along Jan 26th 2007. I was so thrilled and felt so blessed at my beautiful family. Our family was complete. Barry’s Mother and father came to stay for three months and this was the first time we had family around during the birth of one of our children. What a difference it made.

We decided that a trip back to Canada was in order for Dec. 2008. My family had not even met our children. It was an exciting trip that saw us not only travel across the world but also from the West Coast to the East Coast of Canada. With three small boys under the age of 6, it had its challenging moments. The boys loved seeing their extended families and experiencing snow for the first time.

A week before we left on our trip I took my first fainting spell. Charlie found me on the floor alerted Barry thinking I was dead. What a fright he had. I went to the Doctor and had my blood tested and everything came back normal. My Doctor said that I had naturally low blood pressure and fainting could be a possible symptom.

During our trip in Newfoundland I fainted again. I just put it down to not enough sleep and my low blood pressure.

On our return trip home, I just could not seem to shake off a feeling of severe jetlag. This feeling would continue until my Diagnosis on March 16th 2009. A week before my diagnosis I was feeling really bad with pressure headaches behind my eyes. I went to my Doctor and she gave me antibiotics for an upper sinus infection. I had not had a cold in the past few months and I was eager to get some type of relief. After 4 days I returned to her and told her that the antibiotics were not working and I felt terrible. She said what I was describing could have been Viral Meningitis. I couldn’t believe it. I drove to the Manly Hospital and was admitted straight away for a series of test including a CT (Cat) Scan.

Before long, an emergency Doctor came in and informed me that I did not have meningitis. I was so relieved. When I looked at her again she had tears in her eyes and said, “I am sorry but you have a malignant brain tumor and it looks bad.” I was in shock….  She said they were all amazed that I was still alive that there was so much swelling that my brain was totally pushed to one side.

Barry arrived with the kids in time to see me off in the ambulance to the Royal North Shore Hospital. It all happened so fast. I would spend the next 12 hours in a series of tests, CT scans, MRI’s, X-rays, ultrasounds, blood tests, etc, etc. Brain surgery was booked for 4 days later. They had to wait for the swelling to subside to safely remove the tumor, which was located in the sub cortex lobe. They thought I had a GMB (Glioblastoma Multiforme) but would know more once they operated and got the pathology back. After brain surgery I would start aggressive treatment with both radiation and Chemotherapy. The next few days passed by very slowly. Everyone, including myself, was in a state of shock. I felt so bad for Barry and even worse for the kids.

Brain surgery was a 4 hour procedure and was deemed a success. I was awake and talking to God, 5 minutes after being out of anesthetic. I was very lucid and driving the nurse crazy with all my questions. I was so thrilled that I made it through the surgery with all my functions intact. I must have had Angels working overtime.

I made a random comment to my Surgeon, “So much for all my healthy living!” He said to me quite the opposite, “The only reason you are still here is because of your healthy living.” He was very impressed by my recovery and said that I had an added advantage of being fit and healthy.  The next 5 days awaiting pathology was pure living hell.

I was told the results of the pathology by one of the neuro registrars who did not follow protocol. “I have your pathology results (It was 7 am and I was alone.)” “It is a GMB Glioblastoma Multiforme with PNET features, Stage 4, considered terminal and very rare!” I was only one of 55 people in the world (first in Australia) with this type of tumor and there were no known survivors past 18 months. Thank God the nurse was there to sit with me. I was furious that he came to my room, dumped the results, and left all within three minutes. I truly believed that the pathology would come back negative or at least low grade and treatable. The nurse had to call Barry as I was too upset. When I thought of the boys without me, I felt sick. When Barry arrived I could not even look at him. All I could say was, “I am so sorry!” We just held each other and cried. I just wanted to go home and be with my children.

That evening I was allowed to go home. 5 days later, I took a reaction to the medication I was on and had a series of seizures. I was re-admitted back in the hospital for another week. The kids were highly affected during my stay in the hospital. It broke my heart to see them suffer as they could not fully understand what happened to Mummy. I was so happy when I finally came home and was able to start treatment as an outpatient. After two weeks of being home they settled down immensely.

In May 2009, I completed 6 weeks of radiation. I made it! I felt like celebrating. Radiation treatment is painless and quick; approximately a 15 minute treatment, 5 days a week. They told me they gave me the maximum dose of 6 Mega Volts (6 million volts.) This is all the brain can take.  18 Kilo Volts (18 thousand volts.) is equivalent of an X-ray for a broken arm.

Barry returned to work and I have had an amazing group of close friends that drove me to the Royal North Shore Hospital for my treatment. This was a Godsend as I was not permitted to drive.

I started with chemotherapy at the same time and took “Temodal” 7 days a week. This was administered orally. I also had Carbuplatin administered intravenously once a week, for three weeks. My blood Platelets level dropped too low and the Doctors had to stop my Chemotherapy as it was more important to get through the radiation sessions.

At the time of writing this, I have been given a few weeks reprieve from the Chemotherapy until my blood platelet levels improve. Although the radiation has stopped, I will continue to feel the accumulative effects for the next 4 weeks. I am sporting a nice bald patch, roughly half the size of my head. They tell me it will start to re-grow in 4 weeks. Just in time for the Chemotherapy to knock it all out again. Apparently, your hair grows back curly as the DNA is permanently bent. I have a follow up appointment with my Neurosurgeon, whom I have not seen since I was in the hospital.

One of the most difficult practical challenges I face with this disease is the instability of the financial future for my children if I do not survive. As a previous cancer survivor I am not eligible for life insurance, and I am unable to do any continuing work whilst being treated. I have had to deregister my organic cleaning business which I started 5 years ago and as a family we now function on a single salary with continuing medical expenses, and ongoing care.  I worry alot about how Barry would survive and look after the children as a single parent with one income and no immediate family in Australia.

Until my next update, we are remaining hopeful and positive and enjoying the time we have together.

I am doing all I can to fight this horrible disease.

Love
Audrey xx