Carol's biggest concern should have been wrapping the grandkids' Christmas presents.
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It's December 21 and instead, she's in a doctors office to learn she has non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a blood cancer with the potential to spread into bone marrow and major organs.
Her biggest battle had begun.
Carol Loy's story will be familiar to many touched by one form of cancer or other, but her courage can help inspire others. As a form of therapy in itself, Carol had told her family of wanting to raise money for the Illawarra Cancer Care Centre.
A fundraising page was setup. A thousand bucks was the goal.
Three months on and Carol is two thirds of the way through her chemotherapy treatment and while she's not in the clear, she instantly strikes you as a remarkably positive person.
The hair is gone, but the smile has returned, particularly after raising $18,385 for the centre, following a fundraising day with her other family, the Illawarra squash community.
They had a guy there with a guitar playing music, so we're all there tapping our toes. I just don't like the cocktails they have very much.
"No-one fights alone" the purple T-shirts read.
"It's been quite overwhelming, it brings me to tears," the 55-year-old said.
"I just wanted to raise a bit of money for the cancer care centre, because they do such a good job.
"I could never have imagined we'd end up raising so much."
Carol started playing squash at the age of 19 and has been dedicated to the sport in one form or another for 30 years, involved in the committee at Dapto for the past decade.
A "squash day" fundraiser was organised, something of a marathon event on court, with one of Illawarra's best Troy Mountford and a handful of top players from Sydney part of it.
Carol self-diagnosed last year, when she found a lump on her stomach.
"I was doing some beach exercise, showing off my abs," she said.
"When I noticed it, I went to the doctor and they did a CT scan, I'd been fit and healthy, but was told it had been there for a while growing very slowly.
"I'm one of the lucky ones."
By her side the whole way have been her mum Betty, her partner George, children Steven, Ryan and Sarah, as well as Sarah's husband Chad and Steven's wife Coby.
Friends she'd lost touch with years ago have reached out with offers to help.
Four times, Carol has been for chemo at the cancer centre, there's two more to go, before more tests to see if she's in the clear, for now at least.
"They're fantastic," she said of the staff.
"They had a guy there with a guitar playing music, so we're all there tapping our toes.
"I just don't like the cocktails they have very much."
