Aloha – The Official “I Kicked Cancer’s Butt” Tour!

I did it! I made it to Hawaii! Am I really here?? Somebody pinch me! For you to totally understand the significance of this trip, I need to back-peddle just over 2 years and fill you in on the gaps….

Sipping my lychee martini at the Tanaka of Tokyo Teppanyaki Restaurant, Waikiki. Boxing Day 2015.

October 8th, 2013 – The day I was diagnosed with Stage 2 Grade 3 breast cancer. The day my life changed. It’s a pretty big curve ball to be thrown. I had not long moved to Brisbane and was enjoying my new life in ‘the big smoke’. Then BAM! I heard those three little words no one should ever have to hear – ‘you have cancer!’

October 9th, 2013 – My family rally around me and start to arrive to help me out, both physically, medically and mentally. My little sister Joanna, says to me, “Let’s plan a holiday for when you are better. Where do you want to go?” It didn’t take me long to answer Hawaii. It was a very good distraction strategy actually and gave me something pleasant to focus on when everything else around me started to spin. We went to the local travel agent and picked up a few brochures so that I would have a little light reading while in hospital and could decide on activities that I wanted to do. My brother Chris, also loved the idea of going to Hawaii so it soon became a sibling holiday with partners. We were going to have a ball!

October 15th, 2013 – The day of my surgery. I was scheduled in for a lumpectomy and removal of some lymph nodes. I’ve never been so scared in my entire life. The blood pressure machine could verify that! It went through the roof with the medical stress I was under. I had to break the day down into small 15 minute chunks just to keep going forward. I kept the idea of Hawaii in my head as my ‘happy place’ and would focus on that when it all became too much.

After the surgery, the travel brochures were intensely studied while recovering in hospital and greatly discussed between the nurses who would attend to me and also with my family. My brother is a commercial helicopter pilot and we were even thinking of grand plans for him to hire a helicopter and fly us around!

As time went on and I went through my various treatments, Hawaii was still my ‘happy place’ and I would day-dream of wearing a red Hawaiian shirt, a blue baseball cap, aviator glasses and a fake moustache, pretending to be Magnum P.I. and driving around Honolulu. Yes, I will admit it. I am a HUGE Magnum fan and dreamt of hiring a red Ferrari for half a day just to drive around and see the sights ‘Magnum style’. But circumstances started changing and I was starting to think I would never get here.

As I went into recovery on June 11th, 2014, it became clearer that my sister and my brother had other commitments that prevented them from being able to go anymore. Hawaii was shelved temporarily until such a time where the stars aligned and I could make plans again. I didn’t mind too much as I was now concentrating on graduating back to work and realised how fatigued I was getting at the end of a day. I knew I couldn’t go on the adventure I wanted until I had regained some strength and fitness back.

Six months later (January 3rd, 2015) while on a mini-break on the Gold Coast with my older sister Mandie and her husband Dave, the stars did aligned again and good karma came my way. They were planning their Christmas 2015 holidays and were wanting to go to Hawaii! When they pulled out the brochures, my eyes lit up the size of dinner plates. I told them how Hawaii was where I had planned to go once I got better but plans were shelved. Next thing I know, I am accepting an offer to go with them to Hawaii on Boxing Day 2015 and to spend New Year’s Eve there!

Fast forward again now to today…Boxing Day 2015. I am here in Hawaii. I have to admit that I got a little emotional walking into Brisbane International Airport and checking in. I thought the day would never arrive. I’m sure the other 399-odd passengers didn’t know the significance for me, walking on that plane. That moment where you say to yourself, “Hey, you did it! You kicked cancer’s butt. You got through it. You deserve to be here and you deserve to live life to it’s fullest.” And you can bet your bottom dollar that that’s exactly what I am going to do – live it!

Oh… and in case you are wondering… my first purchase when I got here today was my red Magnum shirt ready for my Magnum P.I. helicopter tour on New Year’s Eve day (there was no red Ferrari to hire so I went one better and hired T.C.’s chopper for an hour!). I even bought a fake, stick on moustache and aviator with me. Now to just find that baseball cap….!

The leis I was given upon arrival at Honolulu Airport. This pic was taken from my hotel balcony – Sheraton Princess Kaiulani – but the rain was coming in so you cannot see the beach behind me.