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Health

Pilbara mum diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer urges others to 'check your boobs, squeeze your babies'

Kate Grainger is comforted by her husband Joel Grainger. (Supplied: Fifth of a Second)

Kate Grainger was in the Western Australian town of Bunbury receiving medical treatment when she received a phone call that her house in Newman, 1,350km away, had been flooded. 

Her newborn's cot in the nursery was damaged. Memorabilia from her wedding, such as her marriage certificate, had water damage.

But, for the mother-of-three, this "stuff" was the least of her worries.

Ms Grainger was diagnosed with grade three triple negative breast cancer in February.

News of the rare, difficult-to-treat cancer came during the last three weeks of her third pregnancy.

'Handed a death sentence'

Kate Grainger's diagnosis came while she was pregnant with her third child. (Supplied: Fifth of a Second)

The 31-year-old said the experience of being diagnosed felt like a bad episode of Grey's Anatomy.

"I feel like I've been handed a death sentence to be honest," she said.

"My husband and my children are just my heaven on earth, and I just want every second with them.

"I just want an eternity with them and it just felt like that had just been ripped out from underneath me."

Ms Grainger left Newman during the end of her third trimester and travelled to Bunbury for the birth.

She noticed her early breast milk had a pinkish red tint during her 36-week check-up.

A scan found a cancerous lump in one her breasts, which had spread to a lymph node.

She started chemotherapy 10 days after giving birth.

Kate Grainger says she misses her life in the Pilbara. (Supplied: Kate Grainger)

With no family history of breast cancer, Ms Grainger said she was shocked when she was diagnosed.

"I'm an educated woman, I have a master's degree and I never thought I could have breast cancer because I thought, 'oh, no, I don't have that gene'," she said.

"I didn't even know that breast cancer affects men as well, I had no idea.

"I actually have had a heap of genetic testing done to see whether this is hereditary and I was just a unicorn and got it."

Life after diagnosis

Ms Grainger and her family miss their life in the Pilbara.

She said it was strange her newborn would not know the person she was before cancer.

"We told our four-year-old and two-year-old that mum has bugs in her boobie and that we have to stay here for quite a while before we can go back to the Newman house," she said.

"So now our little two-year-old girl, Iris, just walks around telling everyone that there's bugs in my boobie."

Ms Grainger was a teacher in Newman and was planning to go back to work after a year.

Spending her days between the chemotherapy and maternity ward after birth was not part of the plan.

Ms Grainger said getting her hair cut short was really hard. (Supplied: Fifth of a Second)

The family has re-located to Busselton to be near Ms Grainger's specialised medical treatment.

She described the past month as "chaotic".

"I have had quite rough chemo that I'm going through at the moment," she said.

"Then we've got a newborn, so there's the newborn sleep, relocating and the house flooding.

"All these things are just piling on top of one another, but I really do just need to stress just how much support we have and there's just kindness wherever we turn."

Her hair started to fall out a couple weeks after chemotherapy.

"I cut my hair into like a pixie cut and that was really, really hard for me because it just felt so real," she said.

"Then I noticed clumps falling out my head so I went all 'Britney 07' and shaved my head in the backyard.

"My whole family stood around me holding hands and crying and laughing and shaved my head for me … it was really quite funny and a relief that I wasn't going to wake up to clumps of hair in my bed."

Kate Grainger shaved her head with her friends and family. (Supplied: Kate Grainger)

Clinging to hope

Ms Grainger is trying to get into an immunotherapy program which would subsidise the drug Pembrolizumab used in the treatment.

According to the Department of Health, Pembrolizumab can cost more than $135,000 for the treatment without the government subsidy.

Ms Grainger said one of her former colleagues received the treatment overseas, after struggling to get the drug in Australia.

"Unfortunately she passed away six years ago but she was trying so hard to fight for this drug," she said.

"Seeing a close friend of mine go through something like that, when you know, she could have potentially had that a lot earlier it is quite upsetting.

"But there's science breakthroughs every day so you've just got to cling on to that."

Kate Grainger hugs her younger sister Lani Wilson. (Supplied: Fifth of a Second)

From dropping off home-cooked meals to free remedial massages, Ms Grainger is grateful for the overwhelming kindness from strangers.

She said getting diagnosed with cancer had changed her perspective on life.

"I just want to soak up every drop of my kids, my husband, my family, our dog and just this life," she said.

"Check your boobs, squeeze your babies, give them lots of kisses and just be grateful.

"When you wake up in the morning just take it all in and find one thing that you're thankful for every day.

"If you wake up in today, and you don't get diagnosed with breast cancer, then that's a good day."

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