Six weeks ago, Horsley mother-of-three Sue Paulic was getting ready for a friend's wedding when she noticed a lump on her left breast.
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She hadn't been unwell, but there was something about the look and feel of the lump that made her book in for a check-up the following day.
A mammogram quickly confirmed her suspicion that this was no harmless cyst, and she's been in and out of specialist appointments ever since.
On Tuesday, the 52-year-old single mother of Cody, 20, Jackson, 15, and Emily, 12, was given the devastating news that she had stage four breast cancer. Test results showed it had spread to her liver, hip and lymph nodes.
"Immediately, I went into mum mode: how do I look after the kids through this and how do I beat this for them?" Ms Paulic said.
"Those three kids are my absolute world and that's why I'll fight this every step of the way.
"Basically I'm all they've got ... that's the thing that scares me the most, it's not what's going to happen to me, it's my babies."
Ms Paulic has been fielding dozens of messages and phone calls from concerned friends, many of them members of the Basketball Illawarra community.
Her youngest two children play for rep teams, and Ms Paulic has become an invaluable and much-loved volunteer for the sports organisation over the years.
To support her in her cancer battle, basketball coach Deb Pitt set up a GoFundMe page, which as of Friday afternoon had raised $11,548.
"I've been to every appointment with Sue and every time we walk through a door it's a minimum of $200 for all these specialists," Ms Pitt said.
"She puts her children first all the time and she is a single mum raising three children on her own and has to work full-time.
"She never asks for anything and she's just a really thoughtful, caring person who drops everything for everyone and we want to help anyway we can."
Ms Paulic's prognosis will depend on how her body responds to a targeted cancer drug, but she will begin treatment next week with a fighting spirit and a strong will to live.
"I still believe that there are plenty of people in the world worse off than myself," she said.
"I believe we have got this.
"I'm a fighter, I'm not going to take this lying down, that's for sure.
"I know there's going to be really tough days, but I have great friends, I have my mum and dad, and I'll do whatever I can to make sure that I'm around as long as possible for my babies."
To donate to the GoFundMe page, visit Help for our special friend Sue Paulic.
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