MY CHALLENGE
FUNDRAISING
I've Raised:
$190
My Goal:
$500
KILOMETRES
I've Walked:
100.2km
My Goal:
74km
I'VE PLEDGED TO STEP UP FOR Julie Nolan
The most amazing and beautiful mum, sister, auntie & friend to everyone who was blessed to know her and mum would be all for walking to raise funds for Breast Cancer Awareness & thank you to everyone who is participating and supporting the NBCF 🩷🩷🩷
My Activity Tracking
100
kms
My target 74 kms
Support my challenge to step up to breast cancer!
Right now, 58 people in Australia are diagnosed with breast cancer every day.
This August, I am taking part in Step Up to Breast Cancer for the mothers, sisters, daughters, friends and loves ones who are impacted by this devastating disease.
I am doing this to raise funds for National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) to support vital breast cancer research to help save lives.
Please make a donation to support my challenge and let's step up to breast cancer together!
Thank you for your support.
My Badges
Stepping up to breast cancer
Upload a pic to my page
Invite a friend to take part
Post on Tribute Wall
Share my page on social
Created a Facebook Fundraiser
Rising Star: Raised $58
Shining Star: Raised $200
Superstar: Raised $500
All-star: Raised $1000
Reached my fundraising goal
First Activity logged
Halfway to KM goal
Achieved KM goal
My Updates
Dance Break while Walking Along The Frankston Foreshore & Getting The Community Involved 🩷
Saturday 21st FebShare@nicolesunflowersolace Dance Session To Bruno at Frankston Beach today and we had a blast & loving the energy of our surprise guests in the background 🤩🌻☀️
♬ I Just Might - Bruno Mars
A Trip To The St Kilda Sea Baths and Walk Along St Kilda Pier
Saturday 21st FebShare@nicolesunflowersolace Social Group Outing to the St Kilda Sea Baths and a walk along the new Pier with a beautiful coffee @@beachcombercafeofficial
♬ original sound - NicoleSunflower&Solace15
March Is Coming Up Fast
Saturday 21st Feb With the upcoming 58 Squat Challenge in March coming up in the very near future.Yesterday while I was at my physiotherapy session at Evolve Pilates and Exercise Physiology, I spoke with my amazing Physio Talisha & asked if during March and on my Friday sessions would she and anyone who is in the gym at the time of my appointment be interested in joining me in the squat challenge and being on camera.
And Talisha was very happy to be involved & said that she believes that the other staff members will also be happy to get involved & show their support for me and the National Breast Cancer Foundation 🩷
I’m so grateful for the support and encouragement that Talisha has shown me to help me not only get my body ready for the squat challenge but helping me with my overall health and strength training for the future as I have multiple disabilities which require daily maintenance for the rest of my life.
I don’t speak about this often but I’m so incredibly grateful to have the ability to still be able to use my body from the neck down as in March of 2024 I was diagnosed with an incredibly serious cervical spine injury and I was put in a cervical collar until the neurosurgeon was able to schedule my surgery which was in August 2024 and then I finally got the cervical collar off in October. Had I not been put in the cervical collar that I had to wear 24/7, and I had a fall or something happened, my C4/5 Disc would have completely severed my spinal cord which would have caused me to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair and completely dependent on other people to do absolutely everything for me and I cannot tell you how scared I was during that time 😭
So the fact that I am even able to walk, feed myself, shower myself and everything else is something I will never take for granted!!!
We found out about my diagnosis a month before we also found out my mum Julie who I’m doing the Squat Challenge in honour of, had been admitted to hospital for a chest infection which turned out to be a collapsed lung and when they tested the fluid they drained it was then we learned her breast cancer had returned after being given the all clear by her oncologist in February 2 months earlier and that was her appointment for the 5 year mark of her original breast cancer diagnosis 😢😢😢
The doctors working on the ward at the time were the ones who explained it to us as her Oncologist was away at the time as this was Good Friday 2024, and they were explaining to us that while this time her cancer was treatable it unfortunately wasn’t curable as it had now travelled to her lungs and we learned that she was Stage 4 💔
Mum had to ask us to explain it to her again because she didn’t hear anything after they said not curable & we understand that completely which is why I hold my emotions in when someone is explaining something incredibly important and difficult to hear because if I break down when they explain it then nobody will hear the details, so it’s come across as if I don’t care but it’s actually the opposite and I will cry and break down when I have heard & processed all the information so that when asked questions about it later, I’m actually able to be helpful.
So as you can imagine was the worst Easter Weekend of our whole extended family and my mums friends who absolutely adored & mum was just completely heartbroken & devastated because she had a such a joy for life, she loved her family and friends and she really thought she was in the clear, we all did because with her type of breast cancer which was Triple Negative, we were always told that if it doesn’t come back by the 3rd year then you’ll be fine.
My heart broke so much for her because it just completely shattered her and she had the worst depression & anxiety that she’s ever experienced in her whole life and I’m grateful to have been able to help her find a doctor that actually helped her but I hated that she would tell me that she finally understood how I’ve felt my whole life because I don’t wish that on anyone 💔
Nobody should have to go through feeling afraid to be alone to understand how incredibly terrifying it can be, or have anxiety about things that don’t make sense to anyone else and you can’t explain it or you need to talk to a doctor and tell them how you feel but when you’re talking to them, you forget to tell them the things that are making your life difficult.
Having put myself through psychology and other mental health services over the last few decades, and learning skills to help express myself and regulate my emotions, I was able to help her with things that others couldn’t and I’m not tooting my own horn here but there’s a certain level of empathy, understanding, tolerance for being misunderstood by people that you build up over time and while you may not be able to be calm about your own mental health and life but when someone you love and care about is in crisis, you become incredibly calm and organised which confuses everyone around you, my psychiatrist tells me that is part of having ADHD & Autism and I should consider it one of my superpowers ☺️
Mum was a very physically active person who loved going for walks with me, her friends or by herself, she enjoyed the gym and made some amazing friends through a gym class that was very special to her 🥰
If mum was here with us now she would be happy to see the progress I’ve made and that I’m still keeping up with my physical activity and looking after my health, last year when I did the Squat Challenge this is the T-Shirt I fit into and I’ve continued with my fitness journey to get to a healthier weight so my health issues are less problematic.
Living with Seronegative Rheumatoid Arthritis, Fibromyalgia, Osteoarthritis, Throcanteric Bursitis in both Hips, CPTSD, AuDhd, Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Bipolar Affective Disorder Type 2, and I have an eating disorder.
Mum was my sisters and my biggest supporter & while she might not have agreed with everything or liked everything we did, she never left us and we could always count on her to show up and help us so even though she is watching over us now, I’m always going to continue to support her in anyway I can and I’m also supporting other people and families who are affected by Breast Cancer to & I hope one day very soon we’re able to reach the goal of Zero Deaths by Breast Cancer and all Cancers so we don’t see our loved ones going through such harsh treatments and suffering so much 💔
My sister is also on her own weight loss journey and has now lost 30-35kg in the last year and 15-20kgs since the passing of our beautiful mum in July 2025 and the hardest part of losing mum in July is that both my sister & myself are born in July
So mum devastatingly passed away a day after my sisters 40th birthday and 12 days before my 43rd birthday
We didn’t celebrate our birthdays last year because we just didn’t have it in us, this year I am giving my sister a 40th birthday and we already have a hotel booked in Melbourne and VIP Meet & Greet Tickets for our favourite Stand Up Comedy Husbands, Darcy & Jer so we will be celebrating with laughter this year 🩷🩷
I’m writing all of this because I want to express how the people in my life have shaped who I am today but I have always been the person I am and I just always kept what I really wanted to say in my head and only ever said what I knew I wouldn’t get kicked out of the family for which happened the first time I finally stood up for myself and isolated me from everyone I’ve ever known my entire life during the most difficult & vulnerable times of my life after being diagnosed with the cervical spine injury and mums cancer coming back & some family members didn’t like that I was finally speaking up about how they treat me and then twisted it to suit their narrative and I am certainly not saying that I handled myself well in all circumstances by any means and take full accountability for all petty behaviour
It’s always going to be an issue of contention for me because now I can post about the fundraising events that I do for the NBCF, and because of the issues with my extended family members and the way they have perceived me & talked about me to others, I’m struggling with getting support for my fundraising and I really wish that people could separate one from the other because this isn’t about me and it’s about my mum Julie and every Australian, their families, friends, carers, and anyone else affected by this disease every day.
So please let’s work together and help raise awareness and funding to help our incredible researchers, scientists, doctors & non profit organisations to continue doing their incredible work helping the Australian community through their cancer journeys 🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷
Thank you for reading if you made it all the way here, I truly appreciate you and your support and my mum Julie will be grateful to as well as the NBCF 🩷🩷🩷🩷
Share
7/8/2025
Sunday 10th AugShare@nicmmnsunflower Out for another adventure & walk yesterday to the McClelland Sculpture Gallery for some fun sightseeing while getting our steps in for the day ??????????
? Good Life - OneRepublic
Added An Activity To Our Walk
Wednesday 6th AugShare@nicmmnsunflower Getting back into shape & getting active again in different ways, I haven’t played basketball or netball since I was in my early 20’s so it’s been 20+ years now & I added it to my walk as part of my Step Up for Breast Cancer for the National Breast Cancer Foundation Australia ?
? Dare You To Doubt Me - The Script
Added An Activity To Our Walk Yesterday
Wednesday 6th Aug
August 2nd & 3rd 2025
Sunday 3rd Aug I have had a very busy weekend with some personal commitments and have been unable to get a walk in but I have some walks planned for during the week and I will be taking photos and documenting my walks.At some point I will be posting some photos and videos of earrings to sell as part of my fundraising which has been approved by the NBCF, and I have a letter from them stating that.
All earrings have been made by myself as a hobby but also as an activity to work on my hand coordination after having cervical spine surgery in August 2024.
All proceeds from earring sales goes directly to the NBCF via the QR code from my fundraising page.
Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend & I hope the week ahead is kind to you all :)
Share
AUGUST 1st 2025 - DAY 1 of Step Up
Friday 1st Aug
First Official Walk of The Month
Today kicks off August & the official start of the Step Up for Breast Cancer Fundraiser with the National Breast Cancer Foundation, and I have chosen to take part in this fundraiser in honour of my beautiful mum Julie who we devastatingly lost only recently on 3/7/2025 and she told me I was allowed to be sad but I had to keep going.
So, today was a short & sweet walk down memory lane, we parked in the parking lot at the Patterson River Boat Ramp in Carrum, Melbourne and then we walked our way up towards Carrum Beach.
It was an absolutely freezing cold day here in Melbourne & especially walking along the water, but I chose to go here because it holds a lot of memories & sentimental feelings of the countless amount of times that mum & I walked around the river together.
I know mum will be proud of me for doing this as she would want me to be participating in such a great cause and getting exercise which helps me with my health issues too & she would be upset if I didn't continue to look after myself.
Hope you all had a wonderful first day of August & I'll be aiming to update my blog every day, please keep an eye out for :)
