Help stop breast and ovarian cancer
The Mother’s Day Classic is coming to the Beaches! On 11 May, the 4.2 km family-friendly fundraiser will take place around Long Reef Headland.
The Classic, which is held in various capital cities and regions around Australia, has donated $46 million to the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) since 1998 and $1.2 million to the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation (OCRF) for the first time in 2024.
Vanja Wilson was diagnosed with ovarian cancer two days before last year’s Classic. At 38 years old, she was shocked as the average age of diagnosis is 64 years.
Ovarian cancer is difficult to detect. Its symptoms – which include cramps, bloating, and frequent urination – are often put down to something else, which is why about 70% of women are diagnosed with stage four. The outlook is bleak, with a 49% survival rate.
Vanja’s first sign was a lump in her abdomen in late 2023, but an ultrasound detected nothing. Blood in her stool early in 2024 resulted in a colonoscopy, which detected a tumour. Three weeks later she was in surgery having three tumours removed, a hysterectomy, a bowel resection and part of her diaphragm removed – and was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer. Sixteen weeks of chemotherapy ensued.
Vanja says she wished she had known more about ovarian cancer. “Had my awareness been better, I would’ve looked into the lump on my tummy more,” Vanja says. “Had it been a lump in my breast, I would’ve gone and had a mammogram. I never assumed a lump in the tummy could be a tumour.”
It was a difficult time, particularly because Vanja is Swedish, and her husband is from the UK. She had no family near her in Dee Why to help out with her young daughters, Mila and Misha who are now nine and five years old.
As her cancer was stage four, it has a 90% chance of returning, and although she has regular checkups, it’s always a concern.
“It’s this odd kind of life. You feel good, and you’re back to normal, but you have this big cloud of uncertainty hanging over your head,” she says.
Now an official OCRF ambassador, Vanja considers herself lucky and wants to give something back, so she offered to run the Beaches’ event this year.
“The (ovarian cancer) research is so vital,” she says. “We haven’t got detection, we haven’t got targeted or effective treatment and the outcomes are so poor.”
“I think (fundraising) is necessary given the underrepresentation and underfunding of this particular cancer,” says Vanja. “And something I didn’t know much about personally until I was living it.”
The Dee Why Mother’s Day Classic starts and ends at the event village in Griffith Park where there will be coffee, food, juices, stalls, kids’ entertainment and a raffle. As most of this is donated, funds raised from coffee and food purchases will go towards the cause.
If you want to have a celebratory Mother’s Day picnic with your family, grazing platters can be pre-ordered, with 50% of the cost going to OCRF.
Entrants can choose to fundraise for NBCF, OVRF, or both. Clothing chain Witchery has also released a special white shirt with 100% of proceeds going to OCRF. Entrants can pre-register online or on the day.
“What better way to spend Mother’s Day!” says Vanja. “Promote women’s health on our day.”
DEE WHY MOTHER’S DAY CLASSIC
Sunday 11 May | 9am
Griffith Park/Long Reef Headland, Collaroy
4.2km walk
Registration $30 child, $35 concession, $40 adult
motherdayclassic.org.au