Tiny message tucked into a shirt left Amelia, Laura and Anabel sobbing after losing mum Leane Flynn
By Maddison Leach|
On Tuesday morning, Amelia, Laura and Anabel Flynn dressed in matching white shirts and headed to the 2024 Witchery White Shirt campaign launch at the Sydney Opera House.
They arrived together but there was something missing, a hollow space between them in the shape of their mother, Leane Flynn.
Diagnosed with Stage 3C ovarian cancer at 49, Leane was told she was going to die several times throughout her cancer journey but her daughters were still blindsided when it actually happened last year.
READ MORE: Leane had to plan her own funeral after doctors found huge tumours?
"It might seem silly, but we honestly didn't think Mum was going to pass away," Laura, 25, tells 9honey.
"We thought this was another hospital stint, so it actually was quite a shock to us. I feel like we're all still trying to adjust because it happened so quickly."
First diagnosed in 2017, Leane had no obvious symptoms before doctors found tumours 'the size of coke cans' on her ovaries.
She quickly learned that her story wasn't uncommon (ovarian cancer symptoms are vague and easily mistaken for other conditions) and decided to speak up.?
Leane shared her journey on Instagram, became an Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation (OCRF) ambassador, and raised awareness and funds through initiatives like the Witchery White Shirt campaign.
In a few short years, she went from an anonymous Australian mum to the unofficial face of ovarian cancer advocacy.
The shift came as a surprise to Laura, who just expected her mum's Instagram page to be a "coping mechanism" for Leane. It was so much more.
"People got to know her the way that we know her. That's why they loved her so much," she says.
Amelia, 27, admits she also "just thought Instagram would be a bit of a hobby" and a way for her mum to share updates each time the cancer came back.
About 70 per cent of ovarian cancer diagnoses are made in the late stages, as Leane's was, and only 49 per cent of patients survive more than five years, but for a while Leane defied the odds.
When an oncologist told her she'd "basically exhausted all treatment options" two years after her diagnosis and should "throw in the towel", Leane said "absolutely not".
"She went and did all her research and moved oncologists," Laura recalls. "She advocated massively for her health."
When one treatment stopped working, she'd find another. When the cancer came back, she kept fighting. For almost six years, it worked.
Then in mid-2023, Leane started to deteriorate.
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Her daughters were by her side immediately, Amelia moving back into the family home to help support their mum through another bout of poor health.
They thought Leane would pull through, as she had done so many times before.
"We actually spent a lot of quality time together unknowingly in the weeks leading up to it," Amelia says.?
On September 4, 2023, the Flynn family ate dinner together. The next day, Leane was gone.
Her three daughters still can't put their grief into words.?
Seven months on, the shock and anguish of losing their mum to the deadliest reproductive disease on the planet hasn't eased.?
"While mum was unwell, there was all the trauma and the ups and downs, and now that mum's passed we're still experiencing all those exact same feelings. It's a long road," Laura says.
They've taken comfort in the outpouring of love from total strangers around the country who knew their mum's story.?
"Even though it makes me scared and nervous, when I'm speaking about mum's story I feel close to her."
Thousands of Aussies mourned with Amelia, Laura and Anabel when their mum passed and still send them supportive messages today.?
"It has been extremely tough and it still is extremely tough, and we're very deep in our grief at the moment," Laura says.
"But we have so many people sending us lovely messages [...] and it does provide comfort. It definitely does help."
Anabel adds that she never "fully recognised how big of an impact" her mum had until she saw the whole nation grieve her.
"She really touched everybody. She had an impact on everybody," the 20-year-old says.
In life, Leane used that to push for ovarian cancer awareness, funding and research; now her daughters are stepping up in her place.
"We'd rather be still just supporting mum on her journey," Amelia admits. "But as tough as it is, we don't want to take a step back and lose any time."
She, Laura and Anabel are continuing Leane's work with Witchery as ambassadors for the 2024 White Shirt Campaign, which is raising funds for the OCRF in Leane's memory.
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"Mum would always say that we can beat ovarian cancer, we just need the time and the money to do it," Laura says, and that's why these campaigns are so crucial.
The gross proceeds from every white shirt sold will be donated to the OCRF to fund life-saving research for the 1800 Aussies diagnosed with ovarian cancer every year.
Every shirt also comes with a black swing tag featuring a tribute to Leane printed in tiny white text. Laura and her sisters broke down when they saw it.
"They sent us a preview of it, but when we actually received the hard version we were in hysterics," she says.
"We're going to keep those swing tags for the rest of our lives."
At the Sydney Opera House, the sisters admit it's "triggering" to be at a Witchery event for the first time without their mum.?
Leane's absence fills the room between rays of sunlight as influential guests like Julie Bishop, Jelena Dokic, and Emma Watkins gather to remember her and keep the cause she fought for going.
As the phones in the room click over to 12.30pm, her daughters take to the lectern.
With brave faces and trembling hands, they tell their mumกฏs story.
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There are no chairs, so everyone sits on the floor and suddenly it's not a room full of politicians and entertainers; it's just a room full of women.
Women who knew Leane. Women who are at risk of losing their lives to the same disease that took hers. Women who want to make a change.
They listen attentively as ?Amelia, Laura and Annabel remember their mum and promise to carry on her legacy.
They still speak about Leane in present tense, like she's still here. In a way, through them, she still is.
Leane shouldnกฏt have had to die.
Every year, we lose about 1000 women to ovarian cancer and despite the lethality of this horrific disease, weกฏre no closer to a cure than we were decades ago.
There is still no early detection test. Treatment options are limited and havenกฏt changed significantly in over 50 years. Itกฏs not good enough.
We can't keep losing women - mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends - to this silent killer, which is exactly why Leane's daughters will keep speaking up even though it hurts.
"Even though it makes me scared and nervous, when I'm speaking about mum's story I feel close to her. We feel like we are continuing her legacy and making her proud," Laura says.
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So Amelia, Laura and Anabel will keep going to events. They'll keep posting on Leane's Instagram. They'll keep advocating for funding and research.
They'll keep doing everything Leane did until a day comes where no Aussie has to live without a mother because of ovarian cancer.
And when it gets hard, they'll remember Leane as she was to them จC not an advocate, or the face of a national campaign (though she was those things too) จC but as a laugh from the living room, a constant figure on the couch, a warm hug when life was stressful.?
As 'Mum'.
Amelia, Laura and Anabel are sharing their mum's story for the 2024 Witchery White Shirt Campaign to raise awareness and money for ovarian cancer research. To learn more, click here.
To donate directly to the OCRF and funding more research into ovarian cancer in Leane's name, click here.?
