Lies was supposed to be embracing motherhood, but instead she was faced with an unimaginable battle. Photo: Supplied.
A Helensburgh breast cancer survivor who received her diagnosis just after having her first child is empowering others who’ve had mastectomies to be proud of their scars and avoid the pressure of reconstruction, while warning the broader community to know their breasts and keep advocating for answers.
At 30, Lies Van Oyen was fit, strong, thriving in her career and about to start a family.
She appeared to be a perfect picture of health, while a sinister disease was growing unnoticed.
“I thought I was in the prime of my life until I wasn’t,” Lies said.
“I was probably a little bit naive. I thought because I was active and healthy, I’m eating healthy, I’m not drinking, I’m not smoking – and breast cancer is something for older women anyway – I had this false sense of security.”
There was no lump on her breast, just a niggling fissure on her nipple which she originally put down to friction from sports bras.
It didn’t go away.
It took six months of advocating to get a biopsy, with visits to doctors and surgeons sparking no concern and only resulting in suggestions for different creams for the mum-to-be.
Two months post partum she received a diagnosis.
“The biopsy came back with Paget’s disease of the nipple, which is a really rare form of early stage breast cancer,” Lies said.
“It was scary but I was told it was very early stage and luckily there would be no chemo.”
Lies’ mammogram came up clear and she was set for a surgery to remove her nipple, but the procedure revealed further threat.
“They basically found an invasive tumour behind my nipple in the skin that they removed as well as high grade DCIS which is ductal carcinoma in situ,” Lies said.
“All of a sudden it went from, ‘You’re fine, it’s probably just a bit of surgery and it’s very early stage’ to doing MRIs, PET scans, needing chemotherapy as soon as possible.”
Lies confidently shows off her scars in a new campaign for LSKD. Photo: Matt Kirby.
After a rushed fertility treatment she underwent 16 rounds of chemotherapy, 25 fractions of radiation and a year of specialised treatment – all while caring for a newborn baby.
“There was a lot of mum guilt,” Lies said.
“I was so excited to be her mum and try and be the best mum I could be and then on days on chemo I literally couldn’t be awake longer than half an hour at a time. I couldn’t eat. I was just in bed all the time so I felt so much guilt not being able to take care of her the way I would’ve wanted.”
She also had a double mastectomy to give herself the best chance of recovery and peace of mind.
“It was actually a decision I made myself,” Lies said. “We started with the removal of the nipple which was supposed to be the only surgery but then my margins weren’t fully clear.
“And because I had multiple imaging reports that said your breasts are totally fine when there were pretty bad tumours in there, I was like, ‘I don’t think there’s another scan you can do on my breasts that I will trust in the future’.
Now Lies is supporting other survivors by breaking down the pressure to get reconstruction, hide, or look a certain way.
“I think a lot of women would actually choose to stay flat if they felt more comfortable with the idea and it was more empowered and more celebrated,” she said.
“If I can, just by sharing my story and sharing my chest and my scars, make one woman go through one less surgery that she might regret later, I find that gives me just a bit of purpose in helping out our community.”
She’s also using her platform to urge people to check their breasts regularly, despite family history, health or age.
“It might be that your breasts are always a bit lumpy and bumpy, if you know your normal and you check your breasts at the same time every month; early detection is so important and really saves lives,” Lies said.
Fifty-eight Australians are diagnosed with breast cancer each day, but because of research conducted by organisations such as the National Breast Cancer Foundation, the outcomes are improving.
“The type of breast cancer I had used to be one of the types with the worst prognosis,” Lies said. “The targeted treatment that exists now didn’t exist basically a decade ago.”
But fundraising through campaigns such as the Pink Ribbon Breakfast this Breast Cancer Awareness month are the only way the NBCF continues to move forward.
“I think people are surprised to hear that the National Breast Cancer Foundation is 100 per cent community funded,” NBCF Head of Community Fundraising Lana Do Canto said.
“We are the largest funder of breast cancer research out of the government and that income, that money, only comes from the generosity of the Australian public.
“If you look at what’s been achieved in 31 years, the death rate has reduced by over 40 per cent which is remarkable, but we obviously know that nine Australians are losing their life to this disease every day so the job is not done.”
Find out more about supporting NBCF by visiting the website.
