Sydney mum reveals heartbreaking truth behind family photo

A Sydney mother, who thought she was at “peak health and fitness” has shared heartbreaking photo alongside her husband “blissfully unaware” at the time she had three tumours in her breast.

Kirstin Pretorius, 34, shared what on the outside looks like a beautiful photo with her husband Maurice, but in a heartbreaking twist, the 34-year-old revealed “in this picture, I was living with cancer, I just didn’t know it yet”.

Both sporting beaming grins as they celebrate their 10 year wedding anniversary, the mother-of-two saying she’d “never felt better, stronger or more comfortable” in her body.

It wasn’t until a routine check-up, she was told she had breast cancer.

“I look at this picture from a simply blissful family holiday celebrating my 10 year wedding anniversary and all I can think is... Kirstin how can you not know that there are 3 tumours thriving away in your breast?"

"How can you not FEEL the cancer slipping into your lymph nodes? Why don't you FEEL sick? How can you be so stupid?”

Eating an “anti-oxidant high virtually-vegan wonder food diet and with no history of cancer in her family, Ms Pretorious said she had no reason to fear she would become a victim of cancer.

Now through her ‘Kicking the big C’ Instagram page, she is working to raise awareness about just how easily any woman, regardless of their health, can be struck down by the illness.

“I had no symptoms and I had no family history of breast cancer in my family so on paper I wasn't at risk... but I still have it,” she added.

“Checking your breasts properly once a month isn't a big deal and to attend a once a year checkup isn't a major commitment.”

She said young girls need to be taught how to perform a proper breast exam “the minute they start to develop breasts”.