Sink or Swim

While cancer affects an increasing number of people, we are getting better at treating the disease. Although many are changed forever by their experience, each year more people survive and the challenge of life after cancer is one each must face in his or her own way.

Shelley Hanna was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000, at the age of 41, and underwent surgery, followed by three months of aggressive chemotherapy. After her treatment she began her fight back, determined to regain her health and fitness. When she began swimming with a local masters club she discovered a new talent, which helped to face down her fears on the road to recovery. In this poignant, inspiring and highly entertaining story, Shelley takes on a succession of challenges, culminating in a 500 km charity cycle in South-East Asia. While her experiences were personal, her lessons are ones many others will understand, and her honest insight addresses many of the deep-seated fears that lie behind a diagnosis of cancer. 

Born in South Africa, Shelley Hanna completed a BA at the University of Cape Town. After three years as a high school English teacher she worked in England and France as a stable hand, au pair, cook and office temp. She met her New Zealand husband, Bruce, in London, and after ten years on the east coast of the South Island, where their children were born, the family now live on a berry farm in Hawkes Bay.