Sisterly love behind a special campaign
Nicole Edmondson has grown up watching her younger sister face some of the toughest battles possible.
And until now, she has been frustrated at not being able to do more to help 29-year-old Genelle De Petra, who is an amputee after surviving cancer in her leg and lungs when she was a child.
But that is set to change, with a crowd fundraising campaign halfway to raising $80,000 for a state-of-the-art prosthetic leg that could transform Ms De Petra's life.
She was diagnosed with aggressive bone cancer in her right leg at age nine and faced many months of gruelling chemotherapy and then surgery to try to salvage her leg using donor bone and a steel rod.
But after infection set in, doctors had no choice but to amputate the leg, which led to a painful recovery in hospital over many months.
Even then her battle with cancer was not over.
Tumours were found in both her lungs when she was aged 11, and she had to have more surgery and chemotherapy, only for the cancer to return two years later and Ms De Petra have more treatment.
None of that has stopped her from getting on with life.
She is mother to four-year-old Leo and works full-time, enjoys a tough gym workout and makes a mean curry.
Her only concern has been the long-term degenerative side effects on her hands and wrists from using the elbow crutches that keep her mobile.
Because her amputation is very high, using a prosthesis has been difficult in the past but she now has access to a more comfortable-fitting prosthetic leg, complete with a computerised knee cap.
"I've been on a trial and so far it's exceeded my expectations, and it would just allow me to move more freely and do things with two hands," Ms De Petra said.
Ms Edmondson, 31, said her sister never complained and was incredibly independent, but the prosthetic leg would give her the sort of mobility she had not experienced since she was a little girl.
"With all Gen's been through, how she lives her life to the fullest potential is truly admirable, but she deserves this chance to do more," she said.
So far, $42,000 has been raised.
For details, go to mycause.com.au /page/87106/helpgenstandonherown twofeet.
