Blindsided by breast cancer
GENEVA WILSON
STUDENT
“Sometimes I’d sit with whatever I was feeling and know it wasn’t forever. I took joy in the little things”
Geneva Wilson was only 24 when she felt the odd pain in her breast and the first thing she thought was that she might be pregnant. The test came back negative so she decided to try a breast self-exam. “I had to google to find out how to do it,” says the Auckland student.
Finding a lump, she went straight to her GP, who referred her urgently for more tests. A biopsy revealed Geneva had breast cancer.
“That was a really tough day,” she recalls. “After getting the news I called my close friends and family. People started showing up with cuddles and gifts. I had so much support around me, I thought, ‘We’re going to smash this.’”
Doctors also discovered her cancer was triple-negative (TNBC) – meaning it tested negative for all three receptors (oestrogen, progesterone, and HER2), limiting her treatment options.
At the time of her diagnosis, Geneva was
