Mum-of-three diagnosed with two separate cancers within weeks

Within a matter of weeks, Taupō mum Abby Dance went from considering herself a fit and healthy 47-year-old to facing two separate cancer diagnoses.

The mother-of-three was diagnosed earlier this year with stage IV metastatic bowel cancer, before tests revealed she also had unrelated stage II breast cancer.

"I didn’t think that people like me got it, that’s for sure," she says.

Dance had experienced fatigue, bloating and pain around her pelvis and hips in the months leading up to her diagnosis, but initially attributed the symptoms to perimenopause.

After waking in "excruciating pain' in January, she went to Taupō Hospital’s emergency department, where a CT scan revealed a mass in her colon.

"The doctor just looked at me and it was very obvious that there was something seriously wrong," she recalled.

The tumour was causing a full bowel obstruction and Dance underwent emergency surgery to create a stoma.

While in hospital, she told an oncologist she had noticed a slight change in one of her breasts, which prompted a mammogram.

That mammogram came back normal, but an ultrasound detected a lump. A biopsy later confirmed breast cancer — a second, unrelated primary cancer.

Further testing also found Dance’s bowel cancer carried a rare mutation, which could make it resistant to chemotherapy alone.

She was initially told her bowel tumour could not be operated on and began chemotherapy alongside targeted therapy.

The two diagnoses brought an abrupt halt to a life Dance, who is a professional photogrpaher, described as "very busy".

On the morning she was due to undergo surgery, her phone was pinging with reminders to board a flight to Queenstown, where she was supposed to be photographing home tours.

She recalled spending a large amount of time in hospital arranging cover for weddings and other booked jobs.

"There are so many photos of me sitting on my laptop in the emergency room," she laughed.

Undergoing treatment for both cancers has been "really, really hard", but Dance's priority has been to keep life at home as normal as possible for her children.

"If I can involve my children without me being sick being a huge part of their life, and keep life normal and fun, that to me is very important," she said.

"The kids will only be as resilient as you are."

Her close friend Jo Burban said that attitude was typical of Dance, who she describes as someone who has always been generous towards others.

Burban, also a photographer, recalled Dance lending her camera equipment, sharing work and teaching her when she was starting out.

"She just has this spirit where she wants others to do well," she said. "It just says so much about her character."

Dance believes that throughout her cancer journey "there would be more positives to come out of this than negatives".

One of those came when her medical team recommended her first-degree relatives undergo colonoscopies following her bowel cancer diagnosis.

Her eldest daughter Ida, 23, went for the procedure in Wellington, with Dance travelling down despite having chemotherapy that week.

Doctors found 22 polyps in Ida’s bowel. She was diagnosed with polyposis, and will need to undergo regular colonoscopies to monitor and remove the growths.

"When [the doctor] told us all of this, I just burst into tears," Dance recalled.

"Not necessarily because I was sad, it was just that this all made sense."

Dance said she has spent months wondering why she became sick, but the discovery changed the way she looked at her own diagnosis.

"If I hadn’t got sick, we wouldn’t have known about Ida," she said.

Friends and family have rallied around Dance, with a Givealittle page raising more than $16,000 to help cover the cost of her treatment, which is not fully funded in New Zealand.

And months after being told her bowel tumour could not be operated on, Dance received promising news.

Treatment had shrunk the tumour enough for surgery to become possible, marking a significant change from the outlook she was initially given and offering a glimmer of hope.

Despite the promising news, Dance said her focus remains on her children and taking each stage of treatment as it comes.

"It’s not necessarily about staying positive. It’s just about living well."