Breast cancer survivor Sally Obermeder's brave battle to live for her ...

Sally Obermeder with her daughter Annabelle Grace Obermeder at home in Bondi. Picture: Justin Lloyd Source: The Sunday Telegraph

Sally Obermeder photogrpahed with daughter Annabelle (seven months) ahead of their first Mothers Day in May last year. Picture: Sam Ruttyn Source: News Limited

IN the darkest hours of her cancer treatment, all television presenter Sally Obermeder wanted was to give her beloved newborn daughter Annabelle a kiss.

But the simple gesture, something that would have brought a little normality back to her life, was banned.

Obermeder, 38, was in the middle of eight months of intensive chemotherapy after being diagnosed with stage three aggressive breast cancer in October, 2011, just a day before Annabelle was born.

"Annabelle was 10 days old when I started chemotherapy. Chemo was so toxic that I could hold her, but I wasn't allowed to kiss her," she said yesterday.

The Channel 7 reporter was given the all-clear in October. But she said finding the willpower to go ahead with more chemo was the toughest thing she's ever done. "You get beaten down," Obermeder said.

"When you're lying on the floor of the shower you just don't know if you can get up any more. It beats the fight right out of you," she said.

"I imagined a tiny spark inside of me - it doesn't matter if not every single part of your body is saying 'I want more', but you just have to fan the one tiny bit that is, so you can keep going. Then you say, 'OK, more'."

Chemo was followed by a double mastectomy to help her chances of survival, but the strain was immense. "The tumour was still in a third of my breast, so I had to have a mastectomy," she said. "After the operation, the reality hit me. Even after all that chemo, they were still chopping off my body parts to save my life. I struggled to shake feelings of shame and heartbreak. I hated myself. I felt unworthy of being in the world."

Now back at work on Today Tonight and Sydney Weekender, Obermeder said: "Cancer has changed me. I've realised how tough on myself I was. Everything was about achieving. This disease made me realise it's not about how many things you tick off your to-do list, it's about whether you're a good person."

Source: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/breast-cancer-survivor-sally-obermeders-brave-battle-to-live-for-her-family/story-e6frewyr-1226625074346

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