Heather Hawkins was 41 when she decided to visit her doctor after suffering fatigue and abdominal pain.

She felt in her gut that something wasn’t right. Nine days later, armed with an ovarian cancer diagnosis, she was having a sizeable tumour removed.

“My tumour was an aggressive one,” Heather tells Alan Jones.

“It was growing quite fast, from my initial diagnosis… it was 10cm. By the time I had surgery nine days later, it had grown to above 17 to 18cm in diameter.”

Heather’s recovery came with a warning from doctors to get fit and healthy or risk relapse… so, she did just that.

Heather took herself for a run in Centennial Park, making it just 1.5km before collapsing with exhaustion.

Just a few years on and Heather has turned herself into an elite athlete, conquering marathons on all seven continents, from -40°C temperatures in the North Pole to the scorching sands of The Sahara.

When Alan asks how she trains for such feats, the 53-year-old says it all starts on the sand.

“The best place is on Coogee beach, can you believe that? In the soft sand!”

Heather’s book ‘Adventurous Spirit‘ details her experiences and how she’s helping others conquer the disease which claims 900 Australian lives every year.

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