Her Legacy, Their Journey
16/12/1983 - 28/12/2021
Linsey Metcalf
Linsey lost her battle with Cervical Cancer in December 2021. Linsey was 38 and left behind 3 boys, Jaidyn, Blake and Brax, and step daughter Shilah.
Linsey was diagnosed with cervical cancer in January of 2019. She experienced bleeding between periods and visited her GP. She required 3 blood transfusions and then underwent emergency investigative day surgery, after being flown to Adelaide. The bleeding was the only symptom Linsey had when she was diagnosed with Stage 3 B Cervical Cancer. This meant the cancer had spread from the cervix to surrounding tissue and blocked the uterus.
Linsey began the fight of her life. She endured chemotherapy, radiotherapy and brachytherapy until she was given the devastating news that all treatment had been exhausted. Linsey was determined to beat cancer for the sake of her children and was not giving up. She held on for two years, and endured excruciating pain.
Linsey had not had a cervical screening for 16 years, notwithstanding having birthed 3 children. It appears in spite of seeing a Gynaecologist regularly during this time, she never had or was offered a cervical screening.
Linseys Legacy has been created by Linseys closest family, friends and children to highlight the importance of gynaecological health and regular testing, to ensure that no family is left without their daughter, their mother, their wife, their sister.
Debra is Linseys mother.
She is a survivor of cervical cancer.
Debra’s cervical cancer was identified during a smear at Stage 1 and was successfully treated without any signs of cancer. Deb survived and with that comes the guilt of losing Linsey. Deb’s father was continually reminding her and her sister to the importance of cervical screenings as her mother, Phyllis, also passed from the cancer, when the girls were children. This disease has forced Deb to experience the grief of a child losing their mother, now a mother losing her daughter, and endure the pain of watching her grandchildren losing their mother.
Debra Katsiavos
03/12/1960
Phyllis is Linsey’s Grandmother.
Her cervical cancer was identified whilst pregnant with her first child, Jill. Her disease was left untreated due to the pregnancy. She then became pregnant again with Debra 14 months later. No treatment was ever started between or after both pregnancies. Phyllis’s cervical cancer was untreatable as left too late. She passed away at 36 years of age. Jill was 4 and Debra, 3.
Phyllis Douglas
27/07/1927 – 10/10/1963