Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Misdiagnosed: A cancer survivor shares her extraordinary tale

By Astrid Austin
Hawkes Bay Today·
21 Sep, 2018 06:43 PM6 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Killarney Jeffares was on her deathbed last year after being told her form of cancer was untreatable but now she is cancer free and cycling to raise money for the Cancer Society. Photo / Warren Buckland

Killarney Jeffares was on her deathbed last year after being told her form of cancer was untreatable but now she is cancer free and cycling to raise money for the Cancer Society. Photo / Warren Buckland

On June 10 2017, Killarney Jeffares' life flashed before her eyes.

The words, "there's nothing we can do" echoed around her brain and she was quickly moved into palliative care.

Wills were finalised, family were present and funeral plans were put into motion. Her death was imminent.

It had been six months since she was diagnosed with rectal cancer, but an operation found it had spread.

"I knew something was wrong because it was supposed to be a seven-hour surgery and I was out after two hours," Jeffares said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It was horrific. We were mourning. My children from Australia came over to visit me and we started our grieving process."

Her husband Robert was and still is the only person who was told by the surgeon the rough timeframe of how long his wife would live for.

"It really hit home," he said. "I won't tell anyone. That's one man's opinion."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

But four days later, she was told there had been a mistake. Her samples had come back she was told she actually had ovarian cancer and all hope was not lost.

"We can never get that time back. It was quite traumatic for all of us going through that process, so we were just speechless when they told us 'oh no, we've got that wrong', she said.

"I've never been so pleased that someone's got something wrong."

"Just the thought process of 'I'm not going to be much longer and how [is my family] going to cope'."

Discover more

Fog wreaks havoc with Hawke's Bay flights

20 Sep 07:17 PM

"We hit the ground running; they took me off palliative care and we started with tests, specialists, CT scans, MRIs - you name it, I had it."

She started on chemotherapy and her hair began to fall out.

"I got upset one day because this huge clump fell out but I took control of it myself and we had a 'shave' party.

"I think people see losing your hair and cancer as a bad sign but I saw it as 'no I can take the control back and I can lose my hair when I want to, not when the cancer says it's time'."

Her last treatment was in December and in January it was confirmed there was no evidence of cancer.

Since then, she has welcomed two new grandchildren to the eight she already had, travelled overseas twice, watched one of her daughters get married, celebrated her and her husband's 30th anniversary with a vow renewal and turned 50.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

And after a year and a half off work, she returned to Camberley School, where she has been working since 2004.

"It still impacts on me that time and thinking about how technically I shouldn't be here, or I wouldn't be here if they had carried on with that procedure."

They credit their faith as Christians with getting them through this tough time. Not only had Jeffares been battling the ups and downs of cancer, but Robert had been battling demons of his own - depression.

"I was getting better, and off medication, which was really good and this happened and I thought I was going to go downhill again but it actually turned around and made me stronger so in a way I was getting better because of her sickness," he said.

"It was nice to forget about myself and realise someone was worse off than me. It was really nice to be that support."

Now, nine months after coming out the other side, Jeffares has a new lease on life.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Life is short; go out and enjoy it and don't waste it."

And that's exactly what she is doing. She has ridden 80km as part of a 100km fundraiser, with 90 per cent of funds raised going to the Cancer Society and 10 per cent going to Camberley School.

Having never done anything like this, it all started with "getting fit for the classroom".

"I realised actually I could do something and raise some money."

She will complete her last 20km today at the USO bike ride relay at Twyford School.

"I would give them the world if I could. It is a thankless job - [the Cancer Society] goes over and above for patients just for that comfort to ease your path and your journey that you're on."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She decided to complain about the procedure and an investigation ensued. "We met with a panel and they explained what happened to me."

The DHB have since changed their procedures regarding women who present with certain symptoms of rectal cancer, meaning further screening will be done to check if they have ovarian cancer.

"I hated going through it and I hated having to be that sort of person, but I love the fact they have learnt through this. For me it is about making sure another lady doesn't go through what I went through."

An ACC investigation is also under way after the DHB suggested Jeffares do so.

"I think it could be easy for me to linger on and blame people for what happened. I will never get last year back but I will just use it as a learning curve and be thankful for what I have got."

Hawke's Bay Hospital chief medical and dental officer Dr John Gommans said Jeffares' illness was an "uncommon type of ovarian cancer".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"While the initial diagnosis of the type of cancer was correct, the original site of the cancer was incorrect. This has led to the district health board routinely conducting more testing of women who present with similar symptoms.

"[HBDHB] met with [Jeffares] and her family to explain in more detail the complexity and rarity of her cancer, and to sincerely apologise for the distress and emotions caused by her initial diagnosis and subsequent diagnosis that changed her treatment plan within a short space of time."

He said it was "important to point out that all procedures, scans and lab processes were performed and analysed correctly at all times. There was no misdiagnosis of scan results or specimens in this case."

For more information and to donate, visit: https://give.everydayhero.com/nz/killarney-my-journey-back

For those who want to support and participate at the USO bike ride relay event today from 9am to 3pm, visit: http://www.usobikeride.co.nz/uso-bike-ride-relay.html

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Praise for restaurant's response after former deputy mayor dies at family dinner

Premium
Opinion

Gail Pope: Robert Louis Stevenson’s Samoan home shot by Hawke’s Bay photographer

Hawkes Bay Today

The 2.2% dream: What we would need to sacrifice to get the lowest rate rise in NZ


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Praise for restaurant's response after former deputy mayor dies at family dinner
Hawkes Bay Today

Praise for restaurant's response after former deputy mayor dies at family dinner

His family say he will leave a legacy of kindness, and he was surrounded by it to the end.

18 Jul 07:18 PM
Premium
Premium
Gail Pope: Robert Louis Stevenson’s Samoan home shot by Hawke’s Bay photographer
Opinion

Gail Pope: Robert Louis Stevenson’s Samoan home shot by Hawke’s Bay photographer

18 Jul 07:00 PM
The 2.2% dream: What we would need to sacrifice to get the lowest rate rise in NZ
Hawkes Bay Today

The 2.2% dream: What we would need to sacrifice to get the lowest rate rise in NZ

18 Jul 06:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP