Our People: Chrissie Aratema, cancer battler

New boobs and a tummy tuck were Chrissie Aratema's 2017 Christmas present.

It wasn't vanity that gifted them to her but cancer.

Last November she found a breast lump but didn't fret, a decade earlier she'd had a benign one and her routine mammogram was due.

However, a follow-up biopsy revealed lump number two wasn't harmless, it was grade three on the cancer scale and aggressive.

Before we progress a word further, Our People declares a vested connection with Chrissie and the inspirational battle she's waged against this hideous disease.

She's this newspaper's longest-serving staff member, in 30-plus years it's the only workplace she's known, beginning as a typesetter.

Today she's advertising's real estate operations manager and the in-house social lynchpin who bonds Posters past and present. That's a once-over-lightly insight into the vivacious, gutsy woman who ran this year's Rotorua half marathon between chemo sessions.

Her story's so personal only she can adequately tell it, she does so with the hope it will help the rest of us for whom cancer's either a known or unknown enemy.

There'll be a few questions from Our People here and there, but for now, the floor's Chrissie's:

"I wasn't too worried about the lump and intended to go alone for the biopsy results, I didn't want to worry anyone, particularly my parents, but my workmate Mary-Anne Kapene offered to come with me. Thank goodness she did, I wasn't expecting a negative outcome so when it was bad news it was great she was there for me.

"That day I had to go to Whakatāne for my flatmate's sister's funeral. I went by myself, cried all the way over, cried through the funeral, then my boss and my good friend and colleague Terry Fergusson met me; Mary-Anne had alerted them.

"We had a drink then I went home and told my parents and daughter. They were absolutely shocked. There's no one else in our immediate family who's had cancer but a lot of friends have. I used to have a Facebook picture of five of us; three of us all had breast cancer.

"It was two weeks from diagnosis to surgery. I said straight away I wanted a [breast] reconstruction even though it was going to be a longer recovery. A tummy tuck's part of the procedure, they use what they take from there for the new breasts. I forgot to say I wanted bigger ones, I wish I had now.

"Before the surgery Terry, he's the artist called The Bushman's Son (Our People, May 27, 2017) painted me topless, now he's going to do a tasteful full nude.

"I guess I was a little bit scared of the op but kept my cool, didn't bottle things up. When I came out of the five hour surgery I didn't expect to feel so good, it was like I'd been partying away. When I woke up I asked for a cheese platter and club sandwich. On the second day my friend, Megan Sperry, brought me a bottle of bubbles, we drank it. I'd been exercising, running right up to surgery; I reckon that helped me feel so good.

"The nurses couldn't believe I wasn't using my morphine pump much so I used it to keep them happy.

"I was only in hospital five days. At home my mother ran around after me a lot, friends came around, we went out, drank booze. Christmas Day was extra special family time."

The mention of family prompts the question what of Chrissie's identical twin Natalie and younger sister Rachel?

"My cancer hit them hard. I told them to have an ultrasound, it picks up cancer better than a mammogram, I tell everyone that."

Six weeks after her op Chrissie was back at work. In February she started chemotherapy.

"It wasn't too bad but by the 10th day I felt like I'd been hit by a bus. I had this metallic taste in my throat, one morning my pillow was covered in hair.

"I'd already picked out a wig, I wanted to go blonde but I looked too washed out so I've gone for my natural colour, length, I still haven't got any eyebrows.

"The best thing was the Look Good Feel Good class with Corinne Koppe, she was brilliant."

In January Chrissie returned to running with her Lakes City Athletic Club buddies.

"I'd run the full marathon on its 50th anniversary so I decided to do the half this year, moving my chemo appointment to fit it in.

"My wonderful friends organised pink shirts with 'team Chrissie' on them. That was such a morale booster."

Running and walking, Chrissie completed the course in 3 hours 23 minutes.

"In 2016 I'd walked and run a half in Hawke's Bay in 3 hours 20 because I got the stitch at 5km, that one was on the flat, my Rotorua half was 3 hours 40 minutes with some big hills. The worst thing that happened was a bruised toe.

"I felt really good probably because I hadn't had a drink for three months, I still haven't, I gave up because it made me feel terrible after chemo. It doesn't hurt to give up."

Mid-way through her chemo Chrissie turned 50, her celebrations blighted by a burglary.

"They took everything girlie and electronic, my false eyelashes and work computer went, I'd been working from home, it was pretty shattering."

Was chemo as bad as she'd feared?

"No, losing my hair and that metallic taste were the worst side effects; my operation left me feeling so good I thought 'I'm not going to let chemo beat me'."

To the brutally frank question we can't dodge: Did she ever think she was going to die?

"Talking with my breast surgeon eased my mind, he said my chances were pretty good if it hadn't spread to my lymph nodes, the post-surgery results came back all clear. My cancer's been a little bump in the road but I do wonder why there isn't a cure for it when they can fly men to the moon.

"If I have a message for others who may suspect they have any form of it, it's get in early, get checked. Think positively, that's what I'm doing, I want to be around for my grandchildren."

CHRISSIE ARATEMA:
Born: Hamilton, 1968. "Mum and Dad were teaching there."
Education: Owhata Primary, Mokoia Intermediate, Lakes High, "I didn't stick around to get School Cert."
Family: Daughter Tayla, 21. Parents: Jackie and Pare Aratema. Twin and younger sisters.
Interests: Family and friends. Travelling "I've done a lot of it, Europe, the States, Bali, the islands". Socialising, running.
On her life: "It's been a great life, I don't intend leaving it any time soon."
On Rotorua: "I love Rotorua, I wouldn't live anywhere else, I'll always call it home, there's so much to do here."
Personal philosophy: "Live life to the fullest, you have no idea when your time will be up."