Vale Dr Catherine King

This month, after fighting breast cancer for over eight years, Dr Catherine King said goodbye to her beloved daughters, husband and friends. 

Catherine was just 34 years old when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and lived through relentless treatments and pain for eight years until she had exhausted all available treatment options.

A passionate advocate for research, education and early detection for breast cancer until the very end, most recently Catherine had signed up to be a SAiGENCI (South Australian immunoGENomics Cancer Institute) Community Research Partner. In her application she said, “my ultimate goal is to see my children grow up”. She died in their loving arms on March 15. 

In her honour, and so other women don’t have to go through the pain and anguish of cancer, her family and friends are raising funds for SAiGENCI Cancer Research. 

“I have two daughters, Lily and Anna. When Anna was three months old I found a tiny lump in my breast while in the shower one morning. As I was breastfeeding, I went to see my GP assuming I had a blocked duct. She gave me a referral for an ultrasound if it didn’t go away in five days. On day five I went for the ultrasound and the floor fell away when the radiologist came in and started scanning my armpit. Meanwhile, my gorgeous baby Anna, sat smiling at me from her stroller. I was heartbroken,” Catherine said. 

“Within a week I had both my breasts removed and was told I had left sided Stage III Her2 +ve (and weakly oestrogen sensitive) breast cancer.

“I have had lots of exposure to different treatments and procedures since my diagnosis. In the last three years in particular, I have been working through the available medication options, experienced a plethora of adverse effects, and I am now getting close to running out of options,” she said in December last year. 

Catherine’s friend and founder of the BEAT Movement (Breast cancer Education Awareness and Training), Linda, is devastated by the loss of her friend. 

I plea for research, and for a future where no woman faces a darkness like this. We are literally dying while we wait for new research and treatments.Linda