When PA Hospital ICU nurse Jane Swancutt mentioned a lump to her GP over the 2024 Christmas holidays, she never imagined she'd be told days later she had stage three triple negative breast cancer.
A nurse at the PA for all 21 years of her career, the last 16 of those in Intensive Care, Jane had found the lump weeks earlier but assumed it was nothing to be concerned about.
"I was on leave over the Christmas holidays. I decided I should use my time wisely and go to the doctors. I had a few other things I needed to do and I casually mentioned, oh yeah, I've also got this lump, but I'm sure it's nothing," Jane said.
"She's like, lie down, don't show me where it is, I'll see if I can find it. And she found it straight away. She then checked under my arm as well and she could feel a lump under there in my lymph nodes as well, which I wasn't aware of."
A mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy at the Mater on 6 January confirmed her GP's concerns. Three days later Jane was told the cancer had already spread to her lymph nodes. When asked where she wanted to be treated, there was no hesitation.
"Definitely the PA," Jane said.
"I briefly thought, I'm going to run into people I know, but I know that it's the best healthcare I could get in Brisbane in my opinion. And the fact that I do know people and know how the place works, it's not scary for me. I know where everything is and the familiarity was more comforting to me than anything."
In a strange twist, Jane was due to start a six-month secondment in the PA's oncology daycare unit in the new year. Instead of arriving as a nurse, she would be arriving as a patient.
"I had to ring the nurse unit manager and say, I'm going to come there as a patient. I don't think I should be working there," she said.
A mum to two boys aged 12 and 13, Jane started chemotherapy within three weeks of diagnosis. Six months of chemo was followed by a lumpectomy and lymph node removal with surgeon Dr Simone Geere, and then 16 days of daily radiation. Throughout it all, Jane noticed the small touches, some of which were funded by Foundation donors, that made a brutal regimen more bearable.
"I was really appreciative that the PA has free parking for people having radiation. That was wonderful to know that you can turn up five minutes before your appointment, park, walk in, get it done and you're back out again," she said.
Jane enjoyed the music they had playing during radiation, "I noticed it was there. That was good. And the waiting rooms and areas were really lovely and inviting, they weren't too cold and awful. You could tell that a bit of money had been spent there. I didn't use the blanket warmers, but I was always offered them. I did notice those sorts of things."
In August 2025, Jane received the news every cancer patient hopes to hear. She had achieved a pathological complete response, meaning the chemotherapy had worked and there was no cancer left at the surgical site. By January 2026 she was back at work at the PA, this time on the right side of the patient gown.
Looking back on her year of treatment, Jane reflects on a community, both at home and at the PA, that carried her through.
"It feels like a distant memory of what was a really awful period of about 12 months of treatment. But now I look back and think, I did that. I'm so strong and can get through hard things," she said.
"I had such wonderful help from friends and family and I realise now that it's because I'd built up all of those relationships over the years of being a good friend and family member. So all of that came back to help me in my time of need. That was really lovely."
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