Yahoo Lifestyle Susie Maroney's shock announcement: I'm battling cancer
The day Susie Maroney discovered she had cancer – a malignant melanoma – her first terrified thought was for her children.
‘They’re so young and they need me,’ says the marathon swimming champion, smiling bravely through tears of disbelief.
‘I’m their primary carer and if anything happens to me...'
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Susie with her children, Paris, Capri, five and River
It’s only been three weeks since the single mother-of-three discovered she has potentially life-threatening cancer, and the shock remains horribly raw.
‘I was crying when I heard those words, because this is something you can die from,’ she says.
Concerned about a mole on her back, Susie visited her GP and was referred to a skin specialist.
The mole was removed and a biopsy frighteningly confirmed the presence of a malignant nodular melanoma – the worst sort.
Last week Susie was scheduled for surgery at Kareena Private Hospital, requiring an incision 9cm long, 5cm deep and 4cm wide.
‘Hopefully, they will get all the melanoma out,' the 41-year-old says.
'If they don’t, I will have to have further tests and scans to see if it has spread anywhere else in my body.'
Battler Susie has so much to live for – her adored children Paris, seven, Capri, five, and little River, who turns four this week, and then there’s Perry, 40, the former rugby player she fell for at a charity dinner in 2014.
'He supports me through everything, and this is no different,' she says.
'We’ve been talking about our future together. This is just a little hurdle we have to get past first.'
Read the full story in this week's issue of New Idea, out now
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