Connie Johnson has raised more than $5million towards what she calls ‘cancer vanquishment’, and recently set a world record.
And though she is in the final stages of breast and liver cancer, and has ceased all major treatment, she says she’s not about to give in to her disease any time soon.
The mother-of-two told Kristen Henry she was ‘not there yet’, when it came to dying – she still has ‘too much to do’ and ‘the fight must go on’.
‘I want to take the kids to the circus, we’ve never been to a circus,’ she said.
Connie Johnson is in her final stages of breast and liver cancer, and has moved into a hospice
The mother-of-two says though her condition is deteriorating, she is ‘not there yet’ when it came to accepting she was dying
Ms Johnson has now moved in to a hospice in Canberra, and is taking everything one day at a time.
‘At any moment those few little healthy pieces of liver can be taken over by cancer and at that point I go into liver failure,’ she said.
The big-hearted woman’s struggle is best summed up in a Facebook post shared to the Love Your Sister page last week.
Ms Johnson shares the grim reality of her illness – feeling her body slowly deteriorate – but says she still finds pleasure in what she has left.
‘Lately it’s been hard for me to find the positives,’ she wrote.
‘I have been mourning the loss of lots of my bodily function. I can’t walk anymore.
Ms Johnson has raised more than $5million for what she calls ‘cancer vanquishment’
She runs charity foundation Love Your Sister alongside her actor brother, Sam Johnson (right)
Ms Johnson says she still has ‘too much to do’ before she gives in to her disease, but recognises it is becoming harder to live in her body
‘Breathing has become difficult with the swelling of the liver. Sitting up is difficult with the swollen abdomen.
‘Eating has become a bit of a chore rather than something pleasurable and I have been feeling cheated out of those normal daily experiences.
‘But today I realised I still have my mind, there’s no cancer there. I still have my hands and my arms for hugging my children, I still have eyesight for seeing my friends, I still have my hearing for lovely conversations and music.
‘I still have a couple of hours a day when I can do my craft. These are things to celebrate, I just feel so wonderfully happy!’
Despite her external struggles, Ms Johnson recently told her Facebook followers she still had ‘hands and arms for hugging my children, eyesight for seeing friends and hearing for lovely conversations’, leaving her ‘wonderfully happy’