A young Sunshine Coast woman has been given weeks to live after a small lump on her nose was diagnosed as a rare form of sinus cancer.
Hairdresser and counsellor, Michaela Grace, 32, fell to the ground in tears at Sunshine Coast University Hospital when she was told the unexpected news.
“My friend had to pick me up off the floor,” she said.
After initially being told she had a broken nose, Ms Grace underwent surgery and weeks of scans and biopsies before doctors discovered the cancer had spread to the front of her brain.
“I just thought I had a broken nose. It was peak wedding season and I was super busy so I continued working and everything,” she said.
Doctors told Ms Grace that surgery and radiation were not options, leaving chemotherapy as the only available treatment path.
Her oncologist explained the difficult reality of the situation.
“Look, you’re not going to beat this,” Ms Grace recalled hearing.
“If you don’t do the chemo, you have three to six weeks to live.
“If you do the chemo, you’ll have three to six months.”
The decision was complicated by her experience watching her grandmother undergo chemotherapy before she died from cancer when Ms Grace was 13.
“I have to be honest, I have my own trauma with chemo,” she said.
“I watched her go through chemo and all it did was make her sick.”
A conversation with one of her doctors helped her make the decision to undergo treatment.
She asked what advice he would give if she was someone close to him.
“Yes queen, I’ll tell you to fight it,” Ms Grace recalled as his response.
“It was who I needed in that moment,” she said.
Ms Grace asked for 48 hours before starting chemotherapy so she could tell her grandparents, who helped raised her, and prepare for treatment.
After leaving the hospital following the news she had cancer, Ms Grace chose to find the humour in a small moment of joy with her aunty.
“My aunty doesn’t like eating Guzman y Gomez (GYG) but I love it,” she said.
“So, after I was given my diagnosis, I said to her, ‘Now that I’m dying, I want you to eat GYG with me’. And I forced her to eat a burrito in the car with me. It was the funniest thing.”
Do you have an opinion to share? Submit a Letter to the Editor at Sunshine Coast News via news@sunshinecoastnews.com.au. You must include your name and suburb.
From behind the salon chair to the counselling room, Ms Grace has spent her life helping people feel seen, supported and cared for.
Now, she is relying on the same community she has spent years building around her.
Since her diagnosis, Ms Grace has received messages, flowers, gifts and meals from friends, strangers and people she has not heard from in years.
Former hairdressing apprentices have also reached out to share the impact she had on their lives, including one who told her she had started her own business thanks to her advice.
“All these people told me that I inspired them and I’m like, wow, I’m just out here living my life. I didn’t realise,” she said.
“I didn’t know that I was loved like that.”
A GoFundMe fundraiser created by her friend Zoe Nation has raised more than $39,000 to help with living and medical expenses and allow Ms Grace to focus on spending time with the people she loves.
“I was like always really energetic as a kid,” Ms Grace said of her childhood.
“So, I was always up at like sunrise, trying to drag my grandparents outside.
“I did a lot of activities like dancing, swimming, gymnastics, singing, and running.
“I love experiencing life, so I was always just trying something new.”
Rather than an extravagant bucket list, Ms Grace said she wants to continue to fill her days with more simple moments with family and friends.
“Honestly, just positivity and joy and the people I love the most,” she said.
“And do things I love. I love sunrises and I love the beach and I love coffee and I love movie nights with my friends.
“So, I just want to fill my days with all those wholesome things. I’ve been really trying to do more of those.”
