\u201cSarcomas make up only 1% of adult cancers,\u201d says Hayley. \u201cThey can be silent and there\u2019s no screening for this cancer, so your best chance of survival is early detection.\u201d<\/p>\n
After her shock diagnosis in April 2021, Hayley began 25 rounds of radiation to shrink the tumour before having surgery in August 2021 to remove it and save her leg.<\/p>\n
In remission for almost two years, she continued to have regular check-ups. Then, in June 2023, she felt a lump on her buttock, which turned out to be metastatic liposarcoma.<\/p>\n
A full body MRI picked up three spots of cancer in her liver<\/a> and in July of that same year, Hayley endured 18 rounds of radiation on her buttock before the tumour was removed through surgery. By November 2023, a liver CT scan proved clear.<\/p>\n Sadly, a month later, another scan showed the disease had returned to her liver and lymph nodes and she was told it was no longer curable, with doctors offering her palliative chemotherapy to extend her time.<\/p>\n \u201cI cried because I\u2019d always known it was possible, but it\u2019s different being told,\u201d she says. \u201cI negotiated delaying the treatment for a couple of months, so I could travel with people I love while I still looked and felt like myself.\u201d<\/p>\n Flying to Singapore to stay with her brother and his family, Hayley then returned home for a scan, before flying business class to Bali, courtesy of her pals.<\/p>\n On her way back to New Zealand, Hayley received a call from her oncologist<\/a>. The tumours were growing faster than anticipated and she was told the two months she\u2019d planned to travel before starting chemo again would be too long a delay.<\/p>\n Reshuffling her plans, she cut her dream trip down to a month, jumped on a plane headed to Paris, then popped over to Denver in the US to stay with her old boss.<\/p>\n \u201cI also went to Los Angeles to see another brother and did a tour at Disneyland, before going to Coachella in Southern California,\u201d she says. \u201cI really wanted to see Doja Cat live and she was headlining the event.\u201d<\/p>\n Afterwards, Hayley visited Canada, where she\u2019d lived and worked from 2018 to 2020.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a beautiful, huge, Swedish-style outdoor day spa there called Nordik,\u201d she explains. \u201cI wanted to go for three days after Coachella and put myself in rehab! My friends and I had the best time laughing, drinking and just relaxing. Being in a warm spa while it was snowy and cold was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n She returned home in May 2024, shaved her head and prepared for intensive chemo.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t realise how attached to my hair my identity was and for the first time, I looked like a cancer patient,\u201d says Hayley, who splashed out on a blue and white head scarf by luxury designer Herm\u00e8s.<\/p>\n While undergoing six rounds of chemo, she soldiered through with support from her family and friends, sharing parts of her journey on TikTok to encourage others to check for lumps and bumps.<\/p>\n A popular video that has received more than 500,000 views shows Hayley sharing her \u201cdeath rules\u201d. Among them was a suggestion to have her ashes made into diamonds, so her loved ones can carry a \u201cfabulous\u201d piece of her with them always. Another was that funeral guests must sign up for free counselling through the Cancer Society<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cAlso, only approved photos can be posted of me once I die,\u201d she wrote. \u201cNo awkward teenage-years photos!\u201d<\/p>\n Today, Hayley is continuing to receive chemo privately, which costs about $8700 per cycle, as the drug Trabectedin that she\u2019s on isn\u2019t funded.<\/p>\n \u201cI had an MRI and CT a couple of weeks ago, which showed all the tumours are still stable, so I\u2019ve agreed to do another three rounds of chemo,\u201d says Hayley. \u201cThen we\u2019ll rescan and go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n Along with her jam-packed, one-month adventure, Hayley has also flown to Fiji for a girls\u2019 trip, revisited Bali for her sister\u2019s 30th and watched Taylor Swift live in Canada.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, she adopted a long-haired miniature dachshund named Maple, who accompanies Hayley to her oncology appointments.<\/p>\n \u201cMaple has endless amounts of love to give and helps me maintain a consistent routine,\u201d she says. \u201cShe does moult a lot \u2013 anyone would think she\u2019s the one going through chemo! She loves food and her favourite thing is being in bed, which is perfect for my lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n Hayley\u2019s latest project is working on a backyard garden to create a peaceful summer hangout space, filled with flowers, herbs and vegetables.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m mostly asymptomatic and if you look at me, you probably wouldn\u2019t even know I have cancer,\u201d says Hayley, who celebrated her birthday in Queenstown in August. \u201cYou\u2019d just think I chose an edgy, short pixie cut.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m still bewildered this is my reality, but I\u2019m really grateful for all my experiences with the people I love. I\u2019ve had the best time.\u201d<\/p>\n Sarcomas are often misdiagnosed as a benign lump, sporting injury or growing pains in young people. To help fund research, donate to Sarcoma Foundation NZ at sarcoma.org.nz<\/a>. To help pay for Hayley\u2019s chemo, search for \u201cHayley Killalea\u201d at givealittle.co.nz<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hayley was 24 when she noticed her left thigh looked slightly larger than her right. When she began…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[124622,51,81095,2534,124625,21639,634,299,124623,29133,6735,296,124624,194,13840,37113,7239,111,43,139,2551,69,6943,16784,6122,124621,26655,30331,3159,41182,15401,32951,102,1354,4741],"class_list":["post-203592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-admiring","tag-auckland","tag-balcony","tag-cancer","tag-carefree","tag-champagne","tag-death","tag-dream","tag-eiffel","tag-hayley","tag-hotel","tag-into","tag-killalea","tag-kiwi","tag-like","tag-looked","tag-mission","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-night","tag-nz","tag-paris","tag-room","tag-rules","tag-sipping","tag-sparkling","tag-terminal","tag-tower","tag-traveller","tag-trips","tag-turns","tag-with","tag-woman","tag-young"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Hayley Killalea during her visit to Disneyland. Photo \/ Woman’s Day<\/p>\n
Hayley Killalea had to cut her dream trip down to a month but managed to visit France, the US and Canada. Photo \/ Woman’s Day<\/p>\n
Hayley had 18 rounds of radiation on her buttock before the tumour was removed through surgery. Photo \/ Woman’s Day<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Hayley adopted a long-haired miniature dachshund named Maple. Photo \/ Woman’s Day<\/p>\n