'We were in denial': AFL star Jeremy Finlayson's fiancee Kellie Gardner, 27, reveals shocking cancer battle
ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA: Kellie Gardner, the 27-year-old fiancée of AFL star Jeremy Finlayson, has revealed she is suffering from stage four lung cancer, which is terminal. Just 17 months ago, she had complained to doctors about acute nausea and stomach problems. She was told that this was probably a result of her first pregnancy.
Gardner thought the uncomfortable symptoms would go away after her daughter Sophia was born, but three months later they were still there and the alarm bells were ringing louder than ever. Finally, a colonoscopy was performed, which revealed that a tennis ball-sized tumor was blocking her entire bowel.
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Gardner's colon cancer has metastasized to lungs
Gardner assumed her cancer had disappeared after a year of difficult, intensive treatment. In December, she felt a constriction in her chest. She initially believed it to be Covid, but the PCR test came back negative, Gardner said on the Soda Room podcast. Her CT scan revealed a tennis ball-sized lump in her chest cavity, and a subsequent bronchoscopy confirmed that the cancer had metastasized and spread to her lungs. For her stage 4 cancer, Gardner will start a new round of treatment on February 7.
"It was always stage four, but now it's terminal. Obviously, life expectancy can be longer, like they haven't given me a 'like you've got six months to live make the most of it' sort of thing. But obviously, it's spread to a new main function of your body, rather than just in the lymph nodes," she explained. "Now, it's all about controlling, managing that to a point that they can then do radiotherapy, possibly resect. I don't need all of my two lungs to survive. No, I won't run another marathon, but I don't need my whole lung. They can cut off a lobe, which is what I want so badly. But yeah, so it's just all about managing."
Kellie and her Jeremy are considering surrogacy and egg donations
The star added that despite cancer, she hopes to have another baby. "So I've just actually this week had a fertility appointment, got my blood taken … I would do it this year if I could. Obviously, I can't bring up a newborn right now," she added. IVF would not be an option until 12 to 18 months after her subsequent round of chemotherapy, but the couple is also open to surrogacy and egg donations.
The Australian government sends bowel cancer testing kits to all Australians over 50 but Gardner was just 25 when she was diagnosed. “If I had got it checked,” she said, adding, “If I had got all of my tummy problems checked and not just been thinking I had a lactose intolerance like every other Joe, Dick, and Harry these days."
"You hear cancer and you attach it to a 60-year-old. You don’t attach it to a 25-year-old who is quite healthy, who runs marathons, and who just had a baby. I was a fit, young mum. You just don’t attach it to that. Like I was a fit young mum. You just don’t attach it to that. I was an angry woman," she added.
Gardner said that just because she is handling things as well as she can doesn't mean she isn't afraid. “Now it’s more so I’m scared to walk into treatment because I know what it’s going to be like, well, to an extent,” Gardner said. “I know, that chair is going to it’s gonna be hard to sit in the chair. But in terms of being scared for the future, and yeah, yes, yes. But no, because I’d put so much trust in my medical team. I know there’s so many alternative things out there. And if I’m not okay, I know that he still will be with Soph.”