The bonds of sisterhood

"I'll never forget mum’s diagnosis," says Karen softly, recalling the moment that brought everything to an abrupt halt. "We were all staying with Desley for a family holiday. Mum came into my room and said, ‘I have something on my breast," says Karen. "It wasn’t breast cancer," adds Desley, "It was bone cancer. We nursed her at home and she died 91 days later."

For Karen, the loss of her mother, and the changes it brought about, was deeply unsettling. "I felt guilty," she says flatly. "Mum was a 67-year-old woman living in a country town. She had no breast checks, no pap smears, nothing that could have warned us. I felt as though I should have taken responsibility for that. My generation talked about these things; my sister's didn't. I was the one who could have changed things." Continuing with her life in Sydney after so much sadness proved impossible, and Karen decided to return home.

12   |  Single page