July 15 will be Harden Hawks Ladies Day at McLean Oval from 1pm. The day aims to help local Ellie Robertson and her fight against bladder cancer with an auction taking place the next day and entry proceeds going to her.

Young resident and former Harden local Ellie’s story has touched the hearts of so many already as the 26 year old wife and  mother of 16 month old daughter Ivy fights a second cancer battle in two years.

A GoFundMe has been set up for Ellie which has raised $25,300 of a $30,000 goal. This auction and Ladies Day aims to raise that number as high as they can.

After finding cancer in her bladder at a routine pregnancy ultrasound in April 2021, she was diagnosed with Adenocarcinoma bladder cancer, a cancer so rare, it was thought to be contained only to the bladder.

Ellie soon had two surgeries in her second trimester followed by the birth of her first child, Ivy. In November she went in for what was thought to be the end of it and the final removal of the cancer.

 

 

The surgery was successful and it looked like Ellie was clear, but Ellie’s urologist kept a close eye on her throughout 2022, with regular appointments, routine cystoscopies, and 3 monthly CT scans.

In February, an abnormality was found in a routine CT scan and a PET scan and laparoscopy confirmed the unfortunate reoccurrence of her cancer which had now spread to her peritoneum and bowel, making this now stage 4 cancer.

Ellie spent her early years in Harden which is why the town has been offering all they can to help the young mother with a litany of businesses giving out prizes for the auction and donating as much money as they can spare.

Ellie did all her schooling in Harden all the way until Year 12. She used to enjoy playing tennis a lot when the tennis club was running and learned piano from Mrs Gibson in town.

She worked at Maddens in the office after school before moving over to Young.

Ellie recently met with her medical team in Sydney to discuss her treatment plan, saying surgery is the next step of the plan. She had a PET scan and a laparoscopy to see how the cancer responded to treatment and unfortunately, the chemotherapy has not been successful and the cancer has spread further within her peritoneal cavity. Her peritoneal cancer index (PCI) score has increased to 26 and is now classified as high grade.

 

In two weeks’ time, she announced she will be having a Peritonectomy with Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC).

“This major surgery includes removing all visible cancer cells and all affected organs. The team will be removing organs including part of my bowel, part of my bladder, reproductive organs, spleen, gall bladder, appendix, omentum and the peritoneal lining,” she said.

“After all the visible tumours have been removed, the abdominal cavity will be treated with HIPEC, which aims to kill any remaining microscopic cancer cells. During the operation, HIPEC, a heated chemotherapy solution is delivered into the abdominal cavity for about 60 minutes.

“This surgery is estimated to take 11 hours but my surgical team have told me that it will take as long as it takes.

“My specialist has advised that there is a very high chance that this type of cancer will come back again after treatment due to the cancerous cells being microscopic.

“I am taking each day as it comes and focusing on my family and creating precious memories together.”

Ellie said the Hilltops community have been nothing but caring and supportive.

“I would not live anywhere else. I am overwhelmed by the love and support that the community has shown me in recent months. It is incredible how everyone gets to together and rallies to support people who are having a tough time.

“The money that has been generously donated will go towards medical costs and travel and accommodation expenses. My family will be staying in Sydney while I’m in hospital for the next few weeks and as you could imagine, the accommodation costs are very expensive.

“Due to my illness, I have been unable to work since March this year and am expected to have treatment for the remainder of the year so I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who has donated as it has definitely eased my financial stress during this time.”

Ellie had many people she wanted to thank for their ongoing support.

 

 

“I would like to thank the community and local businesses of the Hilltops for their ongoing support. I would like to say a special thanks to Jodie Pollard who has supported me from the beginning of my journey and has organised the Harden Hawks Ladies Day and auction and a big thank you to my sister, Leanne Schulz, who has dedicated so much time into helping relieve my financial stress so I can focus on my health journey.”

Leanne Schultz also wants to thank the community for their support over these tough times.

“It means so much to us to have Ellie’s hometown have her back and support her the way that they have. The Harden Hawks have organised some wonderful fundraisers for Ellie. The ladles day and the online auction have had such a wonderful response,” she said.

“We are so appreciative of all the support the family have been given.

“We would like to thank all the wonderful people and businesses from Harden and surrounding towns for their very generous donations and help. We cannot express what this means to us.

Leanne said, “Ellie will undergo major surgery in Sydney RPA next week, as previous treatment has not been successful, this surgery will now be more invasive than we first expected.  We are really hoping for some good news for our beautiful Ellie.”

It goes to show that the power of a small community can often be huge.

Jack Murray