A grandmother of ten is grateful to be alive after surviving five cancers and being hailed by doctors as a ‘medical miracle’.
It’s been more than 30 years since Gayle Dean, now 72, was shopping with a friend in Dee Why on Sydney’s northern beaches in 1991 when they walked through a pasta medical center advertising free mammograms.
The then 38-year-old and her friend had never heard of them and thought it “might be fun.”
The single mother of three instead discovered she had a four-centimeter malignant tumor in her left breast, beginning her decades-long battle with cancer.
Mrs Dean recalled being in ‘total shock’ as she had experienced no symptoms.
Gayle Dean, 72, (pictured at hospital) began her battle with cancer at age 38, when she and a friend decided to get a mammogram for ‘fun’
‘I was 38, I felt good. I’ve never had a major medical problem, and yet it was there. But that’s the nature of cancer. It’s treacherous,” she told news.com.au.
As a single mother, Mrs. Dean thought of her children and saw them as her main motivation for living.
A week later, she would undergo a mastectomy, during which her left breast would be removed.
The mother said that at that time she prayed to God and asked him to let her live because “no one can raise them as well as I can.”
After the operation, Mrs Dean underwent six months of ‘very tough’ chemotherapy, which left her hairless.
Even though she was cancer-free, she still wondered if she was a “ticking time bomb” and was still getting mammograms.
Five years later, in 1996, Mrs Dean was diagnosed with cancer for a second time, this time in her right breast.
She was admitted to hospital within a week to have the cancerous breast removed.
Mrs Dean then went into ‘fight mode’ and always saw cancer as ‘an enemy to be defeated’.
More chemotherapy “ruined her system” and took its toll on her body.
In 1999 she suffered vaginal bleeding and after a visit to the gynecologist she was told that the uterine lining was ‘full of cancer’.
After having a hysterectomy to remove her uterine cancer, Ms Dean said she felt like everything in her body was being ‘stripped away’.
The former teacher spent the next 16 years cancer-free, including marrying her husband, celebrating the arrival of her grandchildren and traveling the world.
She still continued with her regular checkups, becoming accustomed to hearing words like “remission” and “you’re cured.”
In 2015, she underwent a routine colonoscopy despite “feeling fine” and having no symptoms.
Mrs Dean (right) and her husband, Peter, (left) celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary in 2023
Doctors found a pelvic tumor the size of a tennis ball.
Mrs Dean underwent radiotherapy and chemotherapy at the same time – what she described as the ‘worst nine weeks’ of her life.
The treatment was successful in killing the cancer, but damaged her organs – as well as requiring a colostomy bag.
The grandmother of 10 was hospitalized last year due to an intestinal blockage involving her colostomy bag,
But doctors discovered something else.
She had cancer in her left kidney and had to have it removed.
The 72-year-old is hopeful that the cancer will not return after many organs were removed, including her breasts, as well as 26 lymph nodes, her uterus, fallopian tubes, ovaries, gallbladder and her left kidney.
The mother said doctors have described her as a “medical miracle” and she is “grateful” she survived.
“Numerous doctors have told me that they don’t know of anyone having five different, very serious cancers and surviving them,” she said.
In 2017, Ms. Dean had a positive test result for the BRCA gene mutation, which explained her first two breast cancers.
The mother has agreed to become the subject of cancer research and hopefully help others as researchers look for genetic errors and undiscovered genes.
Mrs Dean said her faith, family and positive attitude helped her through her battle with cancer.
The grandmother, who also speaks in public and works as a funeral celebrant, says her entire life has been about gratitude.
She also wants people battling cancer to know that it’s okay to be angry and that you don’t have to be strong or independent and accept help.
Grandmother-of-ten Gayle Dean (pictured) hopes she doesn’t get a sixth cancer diagnosis