Warrior Women

LIFE DEALT CAMILLA FRANKS, DELTA GOODREM, SALLY OBERMEDER, KYLIE MINOGUE AND OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN A CRUEL BLOW WHEN THEY WERE DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER. ALL THESE INCREDIBLE WOMEN HAVE BEEN TO HELL AND BACK. AND ALL HAVE POWERFUL STORIES OF COURAGE AND DETERMINATION. IN A SPECIAL SHOOT FOR WHO, THESE BRAVE WOMEN SHARE THEIR TALES OF HOPE.

Camilla Franks

Just months after giving birth to her first child, daughter Luna Gypsy, in 2018, fashion designer Camilla Franks was diagnosed with cancer. She underwent chemotherapy, a double mastectomy and breast reconstruction, and now, two years later, she is in remission and has become a passionate ambassador for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. A candid Franks, 43, tells her story …

How did you feel when you received the diagnosis?

When your mortality is questioned, it’s very confronting, shocking and sad all rolled into one. Hearing, “You’ve got stage 3 breast cancer” – my whole world came crashing down. The sheer terror and the fear were things I’d never experienced before. Helpless, powerless, sick to the core, consumed with total fear I’ve never felt in my lifetime. It was a ride that I never bought a ticket for and just wanted to get off.

Did you speak to others who had been diagnosed with breast cancer?

There is a sense of community when you become part of the ‘booby gang’. I was surrounded with so much love, kindness, and support from around the world as I faced down my invader – and in moments of weakness and terror I was reminded of the army I had backing me. I also wanted to connect with others that were fighting the same fight, to show that it was OK to feel broken, to feel pain, to feel rage, to be bald!

During the hardest moments, what did you think about?

I began to focus on love and being grateful for the simple things in life that we are usually too busy to notice