By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
LESS than a year ago, Adrian Sneddon’s sister lost her battle with Leukaemia.
Her name was Michelle, and younger brother Adrian carried her in his heart on the weekend when he walked around Akoonah Park with his family for the Casey Relay for Life.
“There was a time when the doctors rang us and told us get in to hospital, she’s not going to make it. She had to have an operation because she got an infection, her immune system was shot,” Adrian from Berwick said.
“It was a 90 per cent chance she wasn’t going to make it out of this operation, so we had to say goodbye to her and she pulled through and you just think …
“She went through the wringer, got the all-clear and she was in remission for six months, and all of sudden it came back again.”
More than 4300 people, making up 114 teams, participated in the 24-hour relay from Friday night to Saturday night, raising over $360,000 for the Cancer Council.
After Michelle lost her two-and-a-half year battle with cancer, Adrian and his wife Rebecca dedicated their time to raising money for a cure, leading them to the Relay for Life for the first time on Friday.
“We’re just trying to do our bit. You don’t realise that it touches so many people,” Adrian said.
“When we found out Michelle wasn’t going to make it, we turned towards the 60 kilometre walk to end women’s cancer, and we’re going to make that a yearly event now, same with the relay.”
Adrian’s resilience has come largely from Bec, who through her personal training business has organised auction nights and other fund-raisers to raise cancer awareness in Michelle’s memory, while also raising the couple’s three young children Deisel, Ryder and Indie Michelle Sneddon, the latter born after Michelle passed away.
“We were meant to be celebrating having a little girl, but amid it all we lost my husband’s sister,” Bec said.
“We were meant to be welcoming life and we also had to farewell a life.
“We asked Michelle if we could use her name for our child and she didn’t hesitate.”
Another member of the Sneddons’ Relay for Life team is Kerry-Ann Hetherington, a friend of the family’s and one of Bec’s personal training pupils.
In 2003 the Cranbourne East mum lost her sister, Rachael, to breast cancer at the age of 34.
“At the time, she had a two-year-old daughter and battled breast cancer for six years and really battled it, there were ever any positives out of it,” Kerry-Ann said.
“I think it’s actually gotten harder. Watching my children grow up without an aunty.”
But speaking at her first relay in a long time, Kerry-Ann said the event had inspired her to participate every year from now on.
“It’s a truly amazing cause, and the sooner we find a cure then the better we’re all going to be,” she said.
“Next year, we’ll come back bigger and better.”
