Oncologist Dr Sharlyn Kang worked at the Illawarra Cancer Care Centre and later poured her soul into cancer research but sadly succumbed to her own illness recently after a five year battle. Mr Waters wants her legacy to live on.

"Sharlyn spent her career in the service of the people of the Illawarra," he said. "I still have memories of grocery shopping in Shell Cove Shopping Centre or Wollongong Central and having her bump into patients and their families. She'd give me a look and I'd go sit quietly off to the side while she consoled a grieving family or shared a moment with a patient."

The mother of two girls had been having headaches, a persistent cough and had been uncharacteristically volatile so checked herself in for an MRI and discovered the deadly prognosis.

"I remember being called in to the hospital and seeing all her colleagues huddled around the computer screen looking at the scans," Mr Waters said. "They could all see what the scans meant and felt the devastation."

But Dr Kang was determined to put up a fight and did everything she could to extend her life with her husband and their daughters Ava and Anara (now aged seven and five) - brain surgery, radiation therapy, lung removal, trial drugs, chemotherapy, immunotherapies and back surgery.

"Even while fighting cancer, she worked on her colorectal outcomes research which has been the data source for half a dozen papers examining outcomes for local colorectal treatment," Mr Waters said.

"Shar spent a lot of time on making the database more complete and working on standardised protocols ... the database has been a valuable tool for understanding the efficacy of treatments and benchmarking local practices against the wider national experience."

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The pain of talking about his wife to the media was worth it, Mr Waters said, as he wanted to help continue her fight against cancer for the benefit of people in the Illawarra and South Coast.

"Shar was always a humble person, she had a lot of humility, and would probably be aghast that I've decided to tell her story publicly," he said.

"At the same time she was fierce and kind, she was strong and loving, she is the single greatest thing to ever happen to me."

Mr Waters is raising awareness for the International Cancer Advocacy Network, who were supportive during Dr Kang's fight, as well as raising money through a GoFundMe campaign to assist cancer research and trials.

"Our community has lost a great clinician and loving wife and mother."

A memorial will be at St Stephens Anglican Church in Newtown on May 18.

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