CHERYL Dimmack is one of those women you admire.
Having suffered through two forms of cancer she is the epitome of strength and positivity.
Her mother had breast cancer and Cheryl was also diagnosed with the disease.
She underwent surgery in November followed by chemotherapy and radiation, after which she was given the all clear.
This was on the back of doctors finding a tumour in the parotid gland in her neck in 2014 had spread to her lungs, in a case similar to that of her grandmother.
"It was a case of bad luck really," Cheryl said.
"It wasn't linked to the breast cancer at all."
Cheryl underwent a number of CT scans, during which the tumours in her lungs were discovered.
She then had a bronchoscopy and a lung biopsy to determine the extent of the cancer.
"It had spread from my parotid gland, making its way into my lungs and spreading out from there," Cheryl said.
"It is an extremely rare cancer and there is no direct treatment."
Cheryl became the first person on a new trial six months ago and now she gets regular CT scans to assess the trial treatment.
"And it is working," Cheryl said.
"After the first CT scan, the tumours had reduced by about 50 per cent.
"I could feel immediate results, I could breathe better.
"I thought 'jeez, I can actually breathe fresh air again'."
Cheryl said without progressive technology and treatments like the trial she is currently on, she is not sure what she would do.
"Watching my doctors is just amazing, they're incredible," she said.
"The immune-therapy for blood cancers like mine has a 90 per cent success rate.
"Realising you have breast cancer is not the scary thing it was 20 years ago now, there are more people surviving it than dying from it.
"Technology has made it so much easier.
"How lucky are we to be living in 2016?"
Cheryl said that fundraising events like Shearing for Liz hosted by Quentin and Di Davies and Jumbuk Shearing, was brilliant.
"Anything to do with research, I used to have my suspicions about," she said.
"But now that I have seen what the money is going towards, it is really paying off.
"We need more of what Di and Quentin are doing.
"It is going to put more money in that bucket and things are going to move ahead quicker."
Cheryl, being the optimistic person she is, has a couple of tips for people newly diagnosed with cancer.
She said exercising and getting out was important, as was having a good attitude.
"Don't sit around and feel sorry for yourself.
"Of course, cancer and its treatment mucks life around.
"But that will go away shortly and then we get on with our futures."
