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Pat Hancock Nightcliff, Northern Territory Australia Changing Gears Australia 2005 Support Van Driver

Hello from Darwin , Australia ’s most northerly city. Originally from Brisbane , like many, many Darwin people I came here for six months 29 years ago and could think of no good reason to leave, on a permanent basis anyway.

I am excited to be representing this area of the world on the 2005 Australian leg for which I will be a support van driver. When diagnosed almost five years ago at aged 50 I knew that I would survive the disease but thought that it was the signal of the end of my life as it was. I was right - but not in the way I thought. Instead of sinking into mediocre middle age, the breast cancer experience has broadened my life and removed so many inhibitions and restraints which, I now know, I had placed on myself.

First thing I did when I had finished all my therapies (strange expression that, especially for chemotherapy) was join the local breast cancer survivor dragon boat group led by Michelle Hanton, the instigator of the movement in Australia and now National Coordinator of Dragons Abreast Australia, representing 750+ members and 24 member groups country wide. I thought I was doing it for the fun of the experience but now realise it was more, it was needing to find an answer to why I got breast cancer when it had been so far from my sphere in life and, possibly, to seek healing from others who had been through it also.

It has been that and so much more. Apart from providing wonderful opportunities for travel ( New Zealand and Shanghai last year but, alas, not the recent trip to Canada ), I have been fortunate to meet and work with likeminded, inspiring and active women from all over the world, many of whom I now call my friend and breast cancer family. Currently I am the policy coordinator for the national body and on the newsletter editorial committee, which is how I met Jo Parry, the state coordinator for Dragons Abreast Queensland and a participant on the 2004 Changing Gears run. More importantly, I have been given an opportunity to contribute to supporting others who have or will face a diagnosis of breast cancer. I know that, through the collective efforts of us all, a cure will one day be found.

I was inspired by the concept of Changing Gears and Amazon Heart and decided to see if I could contribute in some small way this year.

A little about me. I have a gorgeous 17 year old son, Harry, in his final year of secondary school and I have been single for five years. I work for the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly where I put my public policy background to use in supporting parliamentary committee inquiries, more recently into issues of substance abuse. I am a sailor, a wonderful thing to be in this area of the world with our tropical waters, remote coastline and closeness to south-east Asia .

I do not ride but have been round bikes most of my life. This week Harry and I have started taking lessons. After two days he now has a restricted licence while I have a way to go to get confident enough to open it up. But maybe, come October, I will have done so!

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