Thompson was 34 when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018 while living in Australia.
She told the Waikato Herald a former partner felt a lump on her chest while they were lying in bed and he encouraged her to get it checked.
“I just thought nothing of it, being as young as I was at that time,” she said.
Huntly woman Rose Thompson has stage 4 breast cancer. It is terminal but treatments can help her live longer.
A biopsy confirmed stage 1 breast cancer and she was “fast-tracked” for chemotherapy while living in Australia’s Gold Coast.
She also had a double mastectomy.
“They hit me with everything but the kitchen sink,” Thompson said.
After that, she underwent elective surgery to get breast implants and she was in remission.
She returned home to New Zealand to visit her family when the Covid-19 pandemic hit and the borders closed.
It was here in 2020 that she realised her cancer was growing back in her lymph nodes under her left arm beside the implant.
Doctors confirmed she had stage 1 breast cancer again.
Thompson said she couldn’t handle it.
“I didn’t want to fight the cancer again; I was willing to give up,” she said.
Her former partner bought her a dog, an American Bully named Tama Nui (Māori for big boy), to help keep her going.
“I had to stay during the lockdown and when I went back to Australia, they removed [the implant] and I received radiation.”
She went into remission for the second time.
Round 3
Thompson moved back to New Zealand in 2024 after hearing her dad’s health was declining.
But while his health improved, Thompson’s worsened.
However, she lived life as usual, working as a carer at Huntly’s Kimihia Home & Hospital for two years before taking on an activities co-ordinator role there.
“I just thought everything was okay,” she said.
In June this year, things took a turn.
She was admitted to Waikato Hospital with “profound” anaemia and doctors requested her Australian medical records after noticing lesions on her head, neck and arms.
Further testing confirmed breast cancer again but this time it was stage 4, metastatic and had spread to more areas, including her spine and liver.
Thompson thought the worst.
“I convinced myself that I was going to lose all my hair again, and I was going to be hooked up to a machine [again] once a week,” she said.
“But [I’ve] come to learn that it’s gone past them trying to get rid of the tumours. They just need to keep it at bay.”
Huntly woman Rose Thompson in 2025 before she found out she had breast cancer again and this time terminal.
Resilience
After her third diagnosis, she left her job.
“That was quite sad … that’s how I identify myself a lot of the time, through my work.”
But she remains optimistic.
“It’s disheartening … I have my bad days and my good days. I’ve just got to suck it up and be hopeful.
“Income is obviously a major factor now that I’ve had to try and adjust … but that’s part of my resilience. There’s nothing more I can do.”
A former colleague set up a Givealittle page to help Thompson cover treatment, travel, medication and everyday living costs.
Her 24-year-old son still lives in Australia but her four-legged companion is always by her side.
“He’s the reason I get up every day and fight. He’s part of my medicine.”
Thompson encouraged other women to get checked if they felt unusual, especially younger women because she once felt she was too young for breast cancer.
“I would love to … get back into work and still be here for a very long time.
“There’s a lot of us out there fighting [and] we can still have our lives.”
Malisha Kumar is a multimedia journalist based in Hamilton. She joined the Waikato Herald in 2023 after working for Radio 1XX in Whakatāne.