On the 25th anniversary of the Mother’s Day Classic (MDC), which returns to Parkes Way in Canberra on Sunday 8 May, CW sat down with a local patron of Australia’s largest annual charity fun run.

Canberra mum Erin Sorensen may be just one of 1.5 million MDC runners and walkers, but her survival story is like no other.

“I first heard of the MDC before I had my kids; I did it with my mum a couple of times just for fun.”

Erin was six months pregnant with her daughter when she started waking up in the middle of the night with her nipples cracked and bleeding.

“It was the middle of Canberra winter, so doctors were saying it was probably eczema, dry skin. I wasn’t concerned at all at that stage.”

Erin’s daughter was born in September, and the symptom continued in flux. Her nipple inverted, milk wouldn’t come out of the breast, and the cracking and bleeding continued.

“I kind of gave up and just fed her off the other side and even through all of that, I saw a dermatologist, a lactation consultant, the GP, everyone said it was eczema.”

A whole year passed. “It was my daughter’s first birthday and suddenly, the lump appeared, down the bottom of my breast. Hard, like a marble.”

Erin was only 33 at the time. “It took 16 months to diagnose, which is crazy.”

“I had a mastectomy. I was like, ‘Just get rid of it. I’ve had my kids.’ I didn’t want any more kids. Just take it off.

“So, they took it off. And then I had chemo, and that was terrible. I’d say that was the worst part of it, losing my hair, my eyebrows and eyelashes, looking in the mirror and not recognising who I see, but the story doesn’t end there. I would have chemo a second time.

“My cancer came back. At the start of 2020, just before COVID hit. Two years ago, this April actually. This little lump appeared, like a tiny mosquito bite. Then there were two right next to each other, hard little bumps. I didn’t think anything of it.

“One day, my physio, who had been working on a sore shoulder, felt those lumps and told me that with my history, I should get it checked out.

“I freaked out, went to the doctor. Got another ultrasound, did another biopsy and again, it came back as cancer. I was like, ‘Are you serious?’ I couldn’t believe it.

“Oh, I was so scared. COVID was just starting, and everyone was crazy shopping. We were about to go into lockdown, and I was in the Erindale Woolies with my trolley when I got the call from my GP.

“She said, ‘Has anyone spoken to you yet about your results?’ And I said, ‘No…’ And she said, ‘I think you better come in.’

“And I just burst into tears. Burst into tears. I just left the trolley there and walked out to call my husband.

“It’s a funny story, actually. I went to see her right away, and afterwards I went back to the Woolies because I had to get food – we were about to go into lockdown! And my trolley was still sitting there, with all the food in it. Just waiting for me to carry on.”

The results of Erin’s full-body PET scan were shocking.

“It was everywhere. I had spots in my liver. My left shoulder was cancer. I’d been seeing the physio because it was sore, when actually the cancer had eaten away half my bone.

“My arm was about to snap. I have this awesome photo and it’s like a shark had just come up and eaten a side of it.

“I had spots in my lungs, they found a spot on my brain. It was in all the locations where cancer spreads, I had it everywhere.”

Erin was terrified, and the weeks following were a blur of doctors’ visits.

“I ended up having a full shoulder replacement, I can’t lift that arm up anymore.

“Two years later (how crazy is that?) I’m pretty good. I had the chemo again, which was hell again, and at the end of the chemo, I was pretty much all clear.

“I get scans every three months for little bits that pop up, and I think that will be ongoing.

“I still have drug treatments every three weeks, which I have to go into hospital to get – a pain in the a**e – but other than that, I live such a normal life. Which I find so odd.”

Today, Erin works an office job Monday to Thursday, scheduling her treatments while her children are in school.

“I feel really well. But then it’s like there’s this other side of life.

“I live really healthy now, I eat as clean as I can. Food is such a big thing, bigger than we think it is. All those things that they tell you to do to stay healthy and well, that so many of us are just like ‘oh yeah’ – food, exercise, sunlight, they’re so important.”

This year, Erin’s three children are walking the MDC with her. She reminisced on her first MDC post-diagnosis.

“I was in the middle of chemo, coming towards the end of treatment. I remember it was a wet rainy day, but I was like, ‘I’m not missing this’.

“Heaps of family and friends came, and I actually got pushed around in a wheelchair for half of it because I was so weak,” she laughed.

“It was a terrible day really, drizzly and we had our umbrellas out. But at the same time, it was amazing, because I had all that support and love there.”

To register for MDC and walk for yourself or a family member, head to mothersdayclassic.com.au

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