An inspirational mother of two faced a sea of cheering women dressed in pink to share the news they had raised more than $28,000 at a gala night in Traralgon last Friday.
Connie Johnson called her brother, actor Sam Johnson, who has been unicycling around Australia to raise money and awareness for breast cancer, with the good news.
“You guys are legends” was Sam’s response.
Just one hour earlier, sobs from 202 women could be heard as Connie told the story of her gruelling battle with cancer, which three and half years ago, was diagnosed as terminal.
The key purpose of Sam’s unicycle journey, called Love Your Sister, was to make sure Connie would not die in vain and from feedback the siblings had received, their plan was working.
In her speech which captivated the guests, Connie drew on stories of women who had contacted her after seeing the campaign and had since been diagnosed with early stage breast cancer.
She said while it was terrible for them to have been diagnosed, she was glad they at least had the chance to fight it, rather than having to say goodbye to their children as she soon would.
The Love Your Sister gala night was organised by Connie and Sam’s family in the Latrobe Valley and exceeded organisers’ expectations of raising about $15,000.
“It was awesome, it was better than we could have possibly expected, everybody had a wonderful night,” organiser Sue Johnson said.
With a presentation from BreastScreen Victoria’s Gippsland manager Kelli Mitchener, women were informed and entertained by common myths surrounding breast screening and had the key message of the night “don’t fall into the booby-trap, be breast aware” enforced.
