2 days Ago By Damon Cronshaw
Cameron Malone loves his wife so much, he cycled from Perth to Sydney for her. Login or signup to continue reading He rode 4115 kilometres in 20 days in the Indian Pacific Wheel Ride, raising more than $25,000 on GoFundMe for her battle with stage four cancer. Jen Malone, 51, has lived with cancer for nine years.
Cameron, who grew up in Bar Beach , also rode to highlight the role of the caregiver in serious illness. "It's a tough job. If I had my way I'd switch roles.
I'd much rather be the one fighting than the one caring and watching my loved one go through cancer," the 45-year-old said. "You're so helpless. To do a challenge like this, it's nice to get some headspace.
I say nice, but it was exceptionally hard." Cameron finished the ride on Thursday night. He also rode for his sons, Harrison and Carter - aged 12 and 10.
"I wanted to show the boys you can push through and do big challenges in life, with grit and determination." Cameron also did the ride for his mum, who has been fighting a three-year battle with pancreatic cancer. Cameron and Jen met in London.
They later moved to Sydney, where Jen was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016. It had spread to her lymph nodes. "After she went through chemo, radiation and a couple of surgeries, we asked ourselves what we were doing in Sydney.
" Jen had a partial mastectomy. "They didn't get it all, so they went back and did a double mastectomy." They moved to the Gold Coast hinterland for a calmer life, hoping reduced stress would help prevent the cancer from returning.
"Unfortunately it did come back." Cameron said seeing his wife go through cancer was "horrific". "You hear that c-word and it knocks you for six.
You think that's the end." After she was given the all-clear, Jen would talk about being cancer-free and do three-monthly monitoring and scans. "She is very positive," Cameron said.
"There was absolutely nothing for three years post-treatment. In 2020, she had a persistent sore throat and ear ache. "The doctor prescribed repeats of antibiotics, but Jen asked for a referral to an ENT (ear, nose and threat specialist).
"He took one look and said you have throat cancer. It was also in her neck, lungs, chest, kidneys and brain." An oncologist gave Jen three to six months to live.
That was five years ago. "They said she had seven tumours and it's everywhere," he said. "We went home and balled our eyes out for a week straight.
" Doctors advised putting Jen into palliative care. She was 45. "The boys had just turned two and three the first time around.
They were seven and five the second time around," he said. "She was thinking her boys wouldn't remember her," he said. Cameron said this could never happen.
"I'm the strict one and she's the huggy one," he said. Jen had more treatment. "We threw everything at it," Cameron said.
She's had immunotherapy, along with daily infrared saunas, coffee enemas, cold-press juicing, cannabis oil, off-label medication and healing methods. "The tough thing with doing everything is you're never really sure what's working, so you just keep doing everything. "Despite having another eight tumours, she's doing great at the moment.
She's still here and still fighting." Health and medicine, science, research, nutrition. Email: dcronshaw@newcastleherald.
com.au Health and medicine, science, research, nutrition. Email: dcronshaw@newcastleherald.
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