Plucky Rebecca bids boobs bye-bye
IN TWELVE days time Rebecca Pohlner will sing her breasts' swan song.
It's the brave and positive position the 37-year-old country and music singer and mother of four girls under nine has taken to cope with her decision to have a double mastectomy and, following that, a hysterectomy.
Rebecca's believes she has chosen the best way of beating the scourge of breast cancer which took the life of her mother and two maternal aunts all under 50. And she's ready to sing about it at her pre-operation Pink Hope party at Noosa North Shore Retreat on Saturday, May 12.
"My friends were talking about having a bye-bye boob party," Rebecca said.
"And I said I would go one better and write a song."
Rebecca said the inspiration came when she was humming the tune to the Everley's hit song Bye, Bye, Love.
"I just substituted my words to the music," she said.
She said her decision to have the operation came after research revealed her mother and sisters carried the mutant BRCA gene.
"It's a gene that promotes early heredity cancers," she said.
From that point on, Rebecca wanted to find out if she too was in the cancer's firing line.
"I went to a genetic councillor in Nambour," she said.
"And in 2010 I was told I was a carrier."
Rather than collapsing in self-pity, Rebecca said the news came as a relief.
"I had lived my life under surveillance," she said.
"Since my early 20s I'd been tested - I'm 37 now."
Confirmation of her fears meant she could now have some control over her destiny.
And she decided to guide her fate with radical surgery. The surgery reduces the likelihood of developing breast cancer from 86% to 5% or under.
Once the decision was made, Rebecca said she received a good deal of support from her husband and especially from the professionals.
"I've received so much help and guidance instead of being on my own and just waiting," she said.
Rebecca is booked in for the double mastectomy at Brisbane's Mater hospital on June 15. Immediately after the mastectomy she will undergo a breast reconstruction.
"They have said all going well, I will be in hospital for three days," she said.
"Then it's a six-week recovery period."
Fundraiser
WHERE: Noosa North Shore Retreat
WHEN: May 12
COST: $45 for dinner and a glass of pink sparkly
$21 will go to Pink Hope
BOOK: To book dinner and or courtesy bus call
5447 1225
Pink Hope is Australia's first community for women at a high risk of breast and ovarian cancer. It provides a platform for connecting and gaining information and support. Go to nbcf.org.au.
