In 2021, Kirsten’s life was turned upside down. At 44, she was raising two teenage sons alongside her husband when she was diagnosed with multifocal invasive ductal carcinoma, triple-negative breast cancer. By the time the diagnosis came, the cancer had already spread to her lymph nodes. Suddenly, life felt fast, frightening, and completely out of her control. “I became a client at COUCH Cancer Hub NQ before treatment even started,” Kirsten says, “but then I got swept up in the whole rollercoaster that is cancer.”
Like many people, she powered on at first. Appointments. Scans. Treatment plans. Chemotherapy began, bringing a physical and emotional toll no one can truly prepare for. During her 12-week course of Paclitaxel and Carboplatin, Kirsten hit a wall. Overwhelmed, exhausted, and dreading week 11, she picked up the phone and called COUCH.
“I rang in tears,” she recalls. “And honestly, it was the best decision I ever made.”
Her first visit was for a massage, and it marked a turning point. “It was heaven,” she says. “The most relaxed I’d felt in months.” Amid the relentless pace of cancer treatment, COUCH offered something rare: calm, safety, and space to breathe.
From there, COUCH became a constant in Kirsten’s life. She explored meditation, yoga, pilates, tai chi, and eventually the gym, rebuilding strength and confidence at her own pace. She also found unexpected joy in creative expression, from art classes and clay sculpting to a macramé workshop she never thought she would attend. Each experience offered something different, but it all helped her reconnect with herself beyond the diagnosis.
Her treatment journey was intense: two rounds of chemotherapy, port surgery, a single mastectomy, radiation, oral chemotherapy, and ultimately a second mastectomy. Kirsten chose to remain flat; a decision grounded in self-trust and resilience. Today, she is four years NED (no evidence of disease), and cancer has reshaped how she approaches life. “Cancer has made me brave,” she says. “It pushed me to take risks outside my comfort zone.”
That bravery led Kirsten and her family to sell their Cairns home in mid-2023 and spend two years travelling and working their way around Australia, guided by a simple belief: life is for living. They eventually settled in the quiet rural surroundings of Charters Towers, but the impact of COUCH stayed with her. “As we travelled through regional Australia, I never found or even heard of a place like COUCH,” she says. “Cairns people are incredibly lucky to have such a supportive and amazing place when navigating a cancer diagnosis.”
Now, with plans to renew her passport and travel overseas again, Kirsten continues to live boldly and intentionally. Her story is a reminder that while cancer is terrifying, it can also be a catalyst for courage, growth, and unexpected healing. Through COUCH, she found more than support; she found community, compassion, and a place that helped her reclaim her life.