Why I'm doing the Daffodil Day Dip
I'm taking a cold plunge this month in honour of my sister-in-law, Nina, who is turning 40 and celebrating it in Tasmania of all places.
To understand why this birthday means so much, you need the full story.
Seven years ago, Nina was in her third trimester with her first child when she was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. A week later, she had a c-section and a mastectomy on the same day. Overnight, she became a first-time mother and a first-time cancer patient, all at once. Chemo and radiation followed, with baby Alice by her side through it all. Not long after, she was found to carry the BRCA1 gene, leading to a second mastectomy and a hysterectomy. Then, a year after finishing treatment, the cancer returned - this time in her spine and she went through radiation again to fight it there too. For the last five years, she's been on ongoing targeted therapy just to keep the disease stable, all while raising her daughter and living a life most people would call full and normal.
I wasn't around for those early years... I came into the family after the worst of it had already unfolded, but I've heard enough and seen enough since, to understand exactly what Nina and this family went through. What she carried, and how she carried it, is something I genuinely don't think I could put into words properly. Stoic doesn't quite cover it.
So this year, we're marking her 40th the way it deserves to be marked, outrageously. That means a cold plunge into the freezing Tasmanian ocean, in her honour, surrounded by family who never stopped showing up for her.
Cancer research and the funding behind it are a huge part of why Nina is still here to blow out candles this year. If you're able to chip in, it genuinely makes a difference - to her and to every family walking a version of this same road. Thank you to everyone who already has, and everyone who's about to.
We'll raise a glass to you in Tasmania.
What an incredible family you have.