'I broke four ribs using a handbrake. I never could have imagined the cause.'

Mandy Isaacs has spent more than half her life without a mum.

At just 23, she said a painful goodbye to her mother following a "devastatingly short" battle with pancreatic cancer.

Now at age 55, Mandy is facing her own mortality — for the third time.

But she's not letting her two sons, aged in their 20s, suffer the same experience.

"I know what it's like losing my mum… as a child what I went through, I don't want my boys to go through that," Mandy tells Mamamia.

A surprising double diagnosis

More than ten years ago, in December 2012, Mandy went to a routine gynaecologist appointment and was surprised when her doctor felt a lump in her breast.

Mandy had no symptoms, and had felt no mass herself, but the doctor was right to be concerned. A scan revealed cancer — the same illness that stole her mother.

Image: Supplied.

Fortunately, it was caught early. As part of her breast cancer treatment, Mandy had a full body scan. Here doctors found a "little spot" on her pancreas.

"I didn't think too much about it," Mandy tells Mamamia. "I'm the type of person who doesn't stress until there is something to worry about."

After further testing, Mandy heard a devastating blow. "The spot was so small, all doctors knew was that one day it would turn into cancer, they just didn't know when."

Mandy was 44 years old. A year younger than when her mum had pancreatic cancer.

"I remember thinking, 'oh my God, I can't believe this is happening at the same time as my mum had it'," she says. "I was in shock; I couldn't think straight."

Mandy assumed she would get the spot removed — pancreatic cancer is deadly, her mother died four weeks after her diagnosis. But doctors told Mandy the operation was risky, they would 'watch and wait' instead.

"The breast cancer saved my life"

After completing her treatment for breast cancer, Mandy had regular scans on her breast and pancreas.

Four years later, a scan showed the pancreas lesion had grown. This time it was cancer. She needed surgery to remove it.

"I thought 'just get it out', that's what I wanted in the first place. I didn't want to give it a chance to grow," she says.

Looking back, Mandy does not consider it bad luck having cancer twice, she believes her breast cancer diagnosis was a blessing in disguise.

"The breast cancer saved my life," she says. "With pancreatic cancer, people don't realise they have it until much later, when it's too late. If I didn't have breast cancer, I wouldn't have known about that spot."

Watch: Little Love Stories: Breast Cancer. Post continues after podcast.

It is estimated only five per cent of patients with pancreatic cancer live for more than ten years. Mandy's pancreatic cancer was in its early stages. The operation was a success and "doctors got it all out".

An unusual back pain

Having spent the last eight years, cancer-free, Mandy's only reminder of her treatment was annual mammograms. She had no other follow-up testing. Despite having two cancer scares.

But in June 2023, Mandy started getting an intense back pain and felt fatigued.

"Taking a deep breath really hurt," she says. "I didn't have energy. I was so worn out."

In her day job with the local council, Mandy drives the elderly to excursions. It was during a drop- off, she felt a new excruciating pain.

"In the van there is a hand brake you need to pull up," she says. "By the end of the day, I had to pull up with two hands because I had so much pain in my back."

That was the moment Mandy visited the doctor. The GP took one look at her cancer history and sent her for scans. She had an unbearable wait for results, after being phoned to come back hours later.

"I knew then it wasn't good news," she says. "I kept thinking 'what could it be', I thought osteoporosis, I was quite baffled."

When Mandy went to the appointment, a doctor told her that her cancer was in her bones. The cause of her pain left her jaw on the floor — she had four broken ribs.

"My bones were so fragile from the cancer, four of my ribs had broken," she says.

The breast cancer she fought years ago had silently metastasised, "it wasn't good", Mandy says. The cancer was now Stage Four.

"I was really devastated. I thought, 'could this have been prevented? Or could it have been caught earlier'," she says.

"Every year my breast scans came back clear. It was in my bones. I was never checked for that. No one told me it could spread elsewhere, I feel a bit silly now, I wish I had known."

When Mandy asked doctors why she didn't receive body scans after beating cancer twice, it was only suggested it would be a waste of resources.

Mandy looks overseas for hope

After getting a new oncologist, Mandy started chemotherapy immediately.

Mandy is staying positive, but the painful memories of losing her mum still haunt her.

She is determined to see her sons, aged 24 and 26, grow old.

Image: Supplied

"They're adults, but we're a close family, they were very upset (when I told them)," she says. "I want to see them get married and have kids. I still want to be a grandmother.

"I am too young. I know what it is like losing my mum at 23… as a child what I went through, I don't want my boys to go through that."

Doctors will not give Mandy a prognosis, but once the drug she is on stops working, there is no other treatment plan in Australia. Not satisfied with her options, Mandy is looking to stay at a Thailand cancer treatment facility.

Verita Life is a clinic combining advanced therapies like immunotherapy and holistic support to not only fight the cancer but strengthen Mandy's immune system.

"Beating it before does give me hope I can do it again," she says.

Mandy's sister and "best friend" Danielle, agrees the suggestion that Mandy only has years to live is "unacceptable".

"To know Mandy is to love her. She's the sister who's always there, the friend who lifts others up, and the heart of our family," she writes on a GoFundMe page.

"Verita Life has had success stories from patients who had no options left, and we believe Mandy can be one of those stories.

"The thought of Mandy enduring another gruelling round of ineffective treatment, only to face the same outcome, is unbearable.

Mandy needs five weeks of treatment at the clinic, which costs $55,000. To support Mandy and her family, visit GoFundMe.

Feature Image: Supplied.