When Kharlia Beck, now 35, was diagnosed with bowel cancer three years ago, she was going through a different health process altogether.
“I weighed about 145 kilograms and had decided to change my life,” Kharlia said.
“Gastric bypass surgery started the process, and a gruelling bowel cancer treatment journey really locked it in.”
She lost about 60kg and was now a healthy weight.
“When people who knew the bigger me ask my weight loss secret, I tell them ’Cancer!’,” Kharlia said.
Laughs aside, Kharlia was now cancer-free and sharing her story during Bowel Cancer Awareness Month (1-30 June).
“It’s not easy to talk about bowel cancer… it’s not a pretty cancer – if such a thing exists. But I think it’s important to get the truth out there,” she said.
“Maybe it will help someone going through it to hear this.”
Bloomhill Cancer Care launched its Be There for Bloomhill Appeal this month, seeking community support to bounce back from big drop in op shop income due to the Covid pandemic.
It is also holding Raelene’s Patron’s Gala and charity auction on 8 July and urgently needs to sell tickets.
“On 8 July at Mercedes-Benz Sunshine Coast, our much-loved patron Raelene Boyle will celebrate Bloomhill’s 25th Birthday with a ticketed party and charity auction she hopes will raise $70,000 for Bloomhill,” chief executive officer Christopher John said.
“If there is one year to support Bloomhill, it’s this year.
“The op shops, which supply about 75 per cent of the charity’s income (in a normal, non-Covid year), have this year had sales dip so low Bloomhill was until recently eating into its savings to keep afloat.
“This year Bloomhill celebrates 25 years of providing individualised support, and we want to continue this for the next 25 years. With your ongoing help, we can.”
Kharlia said she felt a “weird pain” in her side a couple of months after undergoing gastric bypass surgery.
“The abdominal surgery went really well, and it was the start of my new, much healthier life. I was 32 years old,” Kharlia said.
“I thought it was to do with the surgery, it was quite normal to have some pain as your body adjusts. I took antibiotics, but no matter what they did, the pain wasn’t going away.”
A colonoscopy just before Christmas 2019 revealed the shocking truth. It was bowel cancer and required immediate removal and chemotherapy.
After undergoing treatments, Kharlia learnt at her first six-month check-up the cancer had recurred.
A second round of treatments included major surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and immunotherapy.
The treatments caused side effects including peripheral neuropathy and fatigue, both of which can be assisted with therapies available at Bloomhill Cancer Care.
Kharlia encouraged the community to support Bloomhill as it has supported her.
“I first found out about Bloomhill after my second lot of treatment,” Kharlia said.
“Coming to Bloomhill for treatments takes some pressure of my beautiful mum who has done so much for me. It helps me to have some support I organised independently.
“I was finding it really hard, I was isolated and felt like there was nobody to connect to. The art therapy sessions I joined were for younger people and they were in the evenings which suited me because I’m not a morning person.
“It was so good to talk to people going through similar things because family and friends support me and love me, but they have their own stuff going on.
“And they will never truly understand why you are the way you are – why I’m so tired, and why I’m so triggered by little things, or why I can’t drive to see them.
“I was really searching for that and I think Bloomhill’s art therapy group has been the greatest help to me.”
Since February last year, Bloomhill and Bowel Cancer Australia have worked together to support the first dedicated bowel care nurse in regional Queensland.
“I provide patients with a constant, dedicated point of contact throughout their care, and offer ongoing support during and after treatment,” bowel care nurse Kirsty Ferguson said.
“It’s been great enabling people to take a more active role in their bowel care treatment and helping to improve awareness in the wider community of how to prevent bowel cancer.”
For tickets to Raelene’s Patron’s Gala fundraiser and charity auction on 8 July visit bloomhill.com.au/Event/raelenes-patrons-gala-celebrating-bloomhills-25th-birthday
