I’ve always been diligent about my health, so when I had a scan on a whim at age 39, I never expected the grim diagnosis that followed: “I was fit and healthy, I had no symptoms.”

Lisa Seiffert She was symptom-free when she impulsively booked a mammogram at David Jones while shopping, only for her split-second decision to reveal a sinister diagnosis.

The model, then 39, used to get screened for breast cancer regularly as the disease ran in her family, but the pandemic meant she was a little behind.

Lisa had been living in New York for 24 years when the world shut down and her health insurance lapsed. She delayed the test slightly until she flew back to visit her family in Queensland at the end of 2022.

“I happened to see a screening spot in the shops while visiting my dad and decided to go in,” Lisa told FEMAIL. “The technicians said they would call me in a couple of weeks with the results, but I didn’t hear from them for a while.”

Lisa finally called them and they casually informed her that she had some calcifications inside her right breast.

‘They told me it was nothing to worry about, it was common. But I returned more than a month later to Sydney and had an ultrasound; That’s when they found the lump,” she said.

Lisa was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer related to slow-growing hormones and needed to have surgery immediately.

Dr. Sarah Forsyth performed a lumpectomy and removed her lymph nodes; she was lucky the cancer hadn’t spread yet.

‘I remember telling my mom and breaking down. She lost her sister to breast cancer and she looked at me and said, ‘I wish it was me,’ which broke my heart,” Lisa said.

He had to stop working while receiving treatment and left his life in the United States behind.

“When you have cancer, it’s a full-time job,” he said. “My goal was to get to the end of the tunnel, I couldn’t focus my energy on anything else.”

Lisa returned to Australia thanks to Australian health insurance and stayed there even after radiotherapy.

“I only came with a suitcase and ended up staying almost a year, which I wasn’t prepared for,” she said.

“I had to turn my apartment in New York into an Airbnb and hundreds of people came in and out of my house while I was in treatment.”

Lisa explained that she was in “survival mode” the entire time and didn’t have the ability to think too far into the future.

‘I was 40 years old and starting over in a new country. I had to find my people, my places. It’s still very difficult: I felt like I was going to school in a new country where I didn’t know anyone,” she recalled.

Lisa was grieving the loss of her life while adjusting to her new normal.

‘I missed my friends, my yoga, my favorite places. “I will always be grateful for Australia’s public healthcare, but it was difficult to give up a country I had lived in since I was 16,” she said.

Lisa revealed she struggled to find an apartment in Sydney and was sleeping in a family friend’s spare room for weeks before she was able to move into her own home.

‘I was desperate because I was going to start treatment soon and I really needed a place to live. “I ended up getting a two-bedroom house after endless offers and inspections,” she said.

“I wanted extra space in case I needed a family member to come down from Queensland and help me.”

Lisa underwent 19 rounds of radiation therapy, five days a week, for a month.

‘I cried with joy when my doctors told me I didn’t need chemotherapy. “I felt so lucky that I don’t think I could have gone through that mentally,” she said.

Lisa was then put on hormone blockers for five years after her treatment and returns for screening every year.

She went through three rounds of IVF and had five eggs frozen, but she is not allowed to get pregnant due to the medications she is taking.

“I really want to have a child of my own and it’s heartbreaking that cancer took him away from me,” she said. ‘Now I’m 41 years old and I don’t have many options. I didn’t choose this.’

Lisa was also assigned an oncology psychologist to help her overcome the trauma of her diagnosis, who helped her find ways to manage her mental health.

‘I tried to be as active as possible; I didn’t have a car, so I took the bus to the hospital. I would walk 25 minutes from my house to the bus stop, go to get treatment and then walk 20 minutes to McIver’s Ladies Baths, she said.

‘My doctors recommended salt water and it really helped. The ocean is my healing place.’

Lisa swam and splashed around for half an hour before taking the bus and walking 25 minutes back to her house.

“I was literally doing 90 minutes of exercise a day during treatment,” he marveled.

She didn’t want to fall into a routine because she was worried about feeling stuck, so she kept her body moving as much as possible.

More than a year after finishing her radiotherapy, Lisa is still trying to find her place in Australia.

One aspect of his treatment that stood out to him was the physical environment of the hospital.

The hospital seemed like a desolate place, dark and lonely, devoid of life and color.

‘I remember sitting there and wishing there was something to distract me from my reality. “People in hospitals are going through the scariest times of their lives and all they have to look at is a blank wall,” she said.

Lisa founds a program called ‘Art to heal’ at the Royal Women’s Hospital whose goal is to equip the hospital with art from local artists.

“Our healthcare workers do everything they can to give us the best care possible; the least we can do is make their workplace welcoming and bright,” he said.

The program has so far received 30 pieces from Australian and international artists, and Lisa hopes to eventually have enough to hang in the five-story hospital.