Young woman with terminal ovarian cancer shared her bucket list

Riding a horse bareback, skydiving and flying in a fighter jet are some of the activities that Alisi Jack-Kaufusi never thought possible.

Six years ago, the HR administrator was given the “crushing news” that she had stage three ovarian cancer after scans found two grapefruit-sized tumors on each ovary.

Despite the best efforts of the doctors, the diagnosis is terminal and the doctors are unable to confirm exactly how much time she has left.

Now Alisi, originally from New Zealand but living in Brisbane, has compiled a ‘timeless list’ of everything she wants to do while she still can.

Before her diagnosis, Alisi, now 30, suffered from abdominal bloating, was tired ‘all the time’ and had an ‘irregular’ menstrual cycle.

But she dismissed the symptoms because she assumed she was “too young for serious health problems.”

During a visit to the GP in October 2017, she said she had been bleeding for about a month and the blood was clotted and dark.

After undergoing multiple blood tests, MRI and a CT scan, she was booked in for a biopsy after the doctor noticed “something” was blocking her ovaries.

Alisi’s world came crashing down in December 2017 after she was told she had ovarian cancer at the age of 24, as the average age of women diagnosed with the disease is 64.

“When I heard about ovarian cancer, I looked at Mom and froze. It felt like the room went silent and all I could see was the doctor’s mouth moving. It was all just a blur. I just remember saying to the doctor, ‘No, this can’t be because I’m only 24, you’ve got the wrong person,’” Alisi recalled.

“Being told by the medical team that I caught this disease 30 years early was hard to process and still is. When you think of cancer, you think of old.’

By the time she was diagnosed, the cancer had spread beyond her ovaries.

“I had to have a complete hysterectomy and unfortunately they couldn’t save any eggs. When you’re in your 20s, the last thing on your mind is accepting that you can’t have biological children of your own. I felt robbed,” she said.

“It feels like all my wishes and goals have been squeezed into a smaller time frame. I may not die tomorrow, but I may not live long enough to have long-term plans.”

Alisi has compiled a ‘timeless list’ of 72 activities and travel plans – from seeing the Northern Lights to having her teeth whitened and going on a safari in South Africa.

“Riding down the beach on horseback was so therapeutic, and flying in the fighter jet was so exhilarating — I felt so free and could forget everything for half an hour,” she said.

Alisi also wants to travel to Tonga to swim with whales, as her family is from here, and to go bungee jumping in New Zealand.

Although she’s started the list, she’s not sure she’ll have enough time to finish it.

“The only thing I regret is not going to the doctor sooner to get my symptoms checked — I put it off for about three months,” she said.

“The doctors were great, but I was really putting off making an appointment. And I had never heard of ovarian cancer before my diagnosis.

“I was so shocked, upset and afraid of what the future held for me.”

Fortunately, she had had the support of her family throughout the ordeal.