ALMOST a year after being diagnosed with cancer, Kingsley resident Ros Ferrier is ready to take on this year’s Run for a Reason.
The St Mark’s Anglican Community School teacher was found to have cholangionacarcinoma, or cancer of the bile duct, last June and underwent surgery followed by five months of chemotherapy.
She has returned to work and is “feeling great” so decided to take part in the event’s 4km walk on May 28.
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READ NOW“I decided I wasn’t going to put things off anymore,” she said.
“This is something I can do; it’s a way of giving back.”
The support Mrs Ferrier received while unwell spurred her to fundraise on behalf of the Cancer Council WA.
As well as benefiting from information and services provided by the organisation, she experienced incredible generosity from staff and parents at St Mark’s, who provided her family with meals during and after her hospitalisation.
“For weeks after, right through to end of my treatment, I was having regular deliveries of meals to my home,” she said.
“These were people I’d never met; I didn’t have anything to do with their children (and) they would turn up to my door, sometimes with three-course meals.
“I experienced such moral and practical support.”
Mrs Ferrier set an initial fundraising goal of $200, which was surpassed within the first day and has continually exceeded targets, having now raised more than $2100.
“It just kept coming in and coming in,” she said.
“I was totally blown away.”
She wants the money to help with cancer research as there was not a lot of information available on her cancer type because it was uncommon.
“Because my cancer isn’t one of the big ones, there’s not much research into my particular cancer,” she said.
“It would be good to know (more), especially as I had no history, I’m a usually fit, active person who usually didn’t drink much; it just appeared out of the blue, and why?”
Recent scans have not shown any sign of the cancer and Mrs Ferrier is feeling positive.
“The goal is to stay healthy and moving as long as I can and also to keep mentally fit,” she said.
Having learnt to be grateful for what she had and to take one day at a time, her advice to others was also to trust the doctors, maintain hope and listen to their body.
“The other thing I learnt was to allow people to help you, don’t feel you still have to continue on, particular as women and mothers we feel like we should,” she said.
“It is a journey but it can be a remarkable journey, it’s not all negative.”
To donate, visit tinyurl.com/l6ysc5m.
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