A self confessed “stubborn person”, Bess is determined to prove the medical experts that gave her a grim diagnosis last year wrong. 

On Christmas Eve, Bess was diagnosed with incurable stage 4b cervical cancer. Doctors said the cancer was too big to remove and told the single mother of three she had less than 12 months to live. 

“I was told six to 12 months in December but I’ve got no intention of that being the case. Being stubborn sometimes works in your favour,” Bess said

She now has her sights set on seeing her youngest daughter, who turns 15 this month, reach her 18th birthday. 

Her condition has improved in recent months but said it was still tough.

“I do get around but it is painful. I have a wheelchair but refuse to use it unless I have to. If I go grocery shopping, within half an hour I’m in a lot of pain so I have to be careful,” she said. 

“But I’m not going to give up.”

A Facebook campaign ‘One Last Glow 4 Bess’ and a fund-raising community event at Noorat on July 13 aim to raise money for Bess to access a new treatment or to have a special holiday with her children.

Bess’ sister Suranna started a crowd-funding scheme and then others in the community, including people who barely knew Bess, decided to join the campaign.

One of the organisers of the fund-raiser, Danielle Bausch, said the event at the Noorat Recreation Reserve would include musicians Kayla Dwyer, Tasha Amoroso, Tim Farren, and Trevor Keilor, children’s entertainment, food, reptile display, raffles and a goods and services auction. The organisers are also seeking donations for the auction.

“I can’t believe people have done this for me. There are other people out there who are worse off than me who deserve help,” she said. Mostly she wants to afford a new drug treatment, Avastin, that  has had good results in the United States.

“If I can use it, I’m going to have to pay for it and it’s very expensive,” she said.

Avastin has been used in trials on other cancers but not for cervical cancer.

If the treatment doesn’t eventuate, Bess hopes the July 13 fund-raiser will support her children.

She is also hoping to use the event to raise awareness about cervical cancer.

“You must listen to yourself and if you know you’re not right, get opinion after opinion until someone finds something,” she said.

“When I was diagnosed it was so far advanced. I didn’t think I had any symptoms but now that I look back there were little things I attributed to getting older.”

People wanting to support the July 13 event can contact: Danielle Bausch on 0413 090 753, Alicia Parsons on 0413 270 328, Mary Bell on 0417 598 371, or Chris Blackberry on 0417 654 001.