Friday 1 April 2016
geelongindy.com.au
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DONE IT: Lovely Banks mother Claire Sykes celebrates swimming 31km in 31 days after beating cancer. (Louisa Jones)
Arts, theatre, laughter with FINALLY FRIDAY
Cancer survivor rises to challenge
Claire laps up life By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
1222888-CB13-16
The young mum celebrating in Kardinia Park Pool looks a picture of health. But beneath the smiling exterior lays a nightmare story of devastation, fear and agony. Just seven months ago Lovely
Banks’ Claire Sykes was in hospital unable to breathe without an oxygen mask and incapable of walking more than a few steps. The nightmare began in June when she was a busy 32-year-old wife and mum to two who “really didn’t have time to get sick”. “But after many weeks of pneu-
monia that wasn’t resolving with three rounds of antibiotics, I ended up in hospital to try to figure out why,” Claire recalled. “An exploratory bronchoscopy, a biopsy and a collapsed lung later, I was diagnosed with a carcinoid lung tumour, a very rare neuroendocrine cancer.
“So rare that many doctors had never seen it before or knew anything about it. “Although I’d been very sick, it was such a huge shock to be told I had cancer, especially in my lung considering I was young and had never smoked. Continued page 3
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1 GEELONG INDY Friday, 1 April, 2016