Sisters re-unite after 19 years at Relay For Life

Fransie Pinfold should not be alive today, let alone taking part in a 22-hour community Relay.

Five years ago, the 59-year-old beat the odds and survived inflammatory breast cancer, an aggressive and rare form of the disease.

“I should not be here, my chances were not very good, but I made it,” she said.

The Cambridge woman and her family took part in the Cancer Society Relay For Life, at Mystery Creek, along with her sister Wilma Kellerman, who traveled all the way from South Africa to participate in Relay For Life Waikito Bay.

“It’s been 19 years since I last saw my sister and I never thought I’d see her ever again,” said Pinfold.

Her daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter joined her for the candlelight ceremony and Pinfold said her grandchildren told her that they are “very grateful I am alive”.

“I go to the Relay every year through the Breast Cancer Society and to have my sister and my family here with me is incredible.”

The mother-of-three was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009 and took part in her first Relay the following year.

“I’ve been going every year since I’ve been diagnosed, so I was going for chemo and walking in the Relay,” she said.

“Last year after my stomach operation, my husband had to carry me over the line because I couldn’t make it; and this year I had to take the shortcut through.”

Pinfold said the Relay is important for her to take part in because, “it’s another year that I’ve made it”.

“I am still a survivor after five years, and I’ve been through all the treatment and had to have stomach surgery. A year after that my colon stopped working so I had to have it removed,” she said.

“I can’t eat and I have to drink stuff that the doctors prescribe me. I can’t walk very well, but I am alive so I am absolutely fine.”

“Relay For Life has a fantastic feeling of community spirit and provides a unique opportunity for us to unite and fight back against cancer,” she said. “Having my sister with me, made me feel like I was in Heaven”.

Pinfold’s sister, who came all the way from Bloemfontein, a town in the Free State, South Africa had the following to say about her experience with Relay and sharing it with her sister: “It was special to be able to walk the track with my sister, sharing in her celebration of surviving cancer. Where else would I have had this opportunity to dance and celebrate?”

“Sharing all the emotions at all the special ceremonies was breath-taking.”

These two sisters will possibly not ever have this kind of opportunity again to walk together and celebrate life. Through Relay For Life, opportunities like this are made possible and these two sisters got to share another birthday together.