![\"Dance](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/dance-surrounded-by-friends-in-hospital-TKK4NJ7LCFAN7KMOWKNF4G7TYM.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWithin a matter of weeks, Taup\u014d mum Abby Dance went from considering herself a fit and healthy 47-year-old to facing two separate cancer diagnoses.<\/p>\n
The mother-of-three was diagnosed earlier this year with stage IV metastatic bowel cancer, before tests revealed she also had unrelated stage II breast cancer. <\/p>\n
“I didn\u2019t think that people like me got it, that\u2019s for sure,” she says.<\/p>\n
Dance had experienced fatigue, bloating and pain around her pelvis and hips in the months leading up to her diagnosis, but initially attributed the symptoms to perimenopause.<\/p>\n
After waking in “excruciating pain’ in January, she went to Taup\u014d Hospital\u2019s emergency department, where a CT scan revealed a mass in her colon.<\/p>\n
“The doctor just looked at me and it was very obvious that there was something seriously wrong,” she recalled.<\/p>\n
The tumour was causing a full bowel obstruction and Dance underwent emergency surgery to create a stoma.<\/p>\n
While in hospital, she told an oncologist she had noticed a slight change in one of her breasts, which prompted a mammogram.<\/p>\n
That mammogram came back normal, but an ultrasound detected a lump. A biopsy later confirmed breast cancer \u2014 a second, unrelated primary cancer.<\/p>\n
Further testing also found Dance\u2019s bowel cancer carried a rare mutation, which could make it resistant to chemotherapy alone.<\/p>\n
She was initially told her bowel tumour could not be operated on and began chemotherapy alongside targeted therapy. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dance surrounded by friends in hospital. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n
Sickness brought ‘busy’ life to a halt<\/p>\n
The two diagnoses brought an abrupt halt to a life Dance, who is a professional photogrpaher, described as “very busy”. <\/p>\n
On the morning she was due to undergo surgery, her phone was pinging with reminders to board a flight to Queenstown, where she was supposed to be photographing home tours.<\/p>\n
She recalled spending a large amount of time in hospital arranging cover for weddings and other booked jobs. <\/p>\n
“There are so many photos of me sitting on my laptop in the emergency room,” she laughed.<\/p>\n
Undergoing treatment for both cancers has been “really, really hard”, but Dance’s priority has been to keep life at home as normal as possible for her children.<\/p>\n
“If I can involve my children without me being sick being a huge part of their life, and keep life normal and fun, that to me is very important,” she said.<\/p>\n
“The kids will only be as resilient as you are.” <\/p>\n
![\"Abby](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/abby-in-hospital-during-her-cancer-treatment-2XP4KZ6AJBD7LBXHVYE5ORN75U.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Abby in hospital during her cancer treatment. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n
Her close friend Jo Burban said that attitude was typical of Dance, who she describes as someone who has always been generous towards others.<\/p>\n
Burban, also a photographer, recalled Dance lending her camera equipment, sharing work and teaching her when she was starting out.<\/p>\n
“She just has this spirit where she wants others to do well,” she said. “It just says so much about her character.” <\/p>\n
Diagnosis led to discovery in daughter<\/p>\n
Dance believes that throughout her cancer journey “there would be more positives to come out of this than negatives”.<\/p>\n
One of those came when her medical team recommended her first-degree relatives undergo colonoscopies following her bowel cancer diagnosis.<\/p>\n
Her eldest daughter Ida, 23, went for the procedure in Wellington, with Dance travelling down despite having chemotherapy that week.<\/p>\n
![\"Dance](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/dance-said-the-discovery-changed-the-way-she-looked-at-her-o-3Y5Z2DHVKVCRPAC2ZAFUGWFP6M.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Dance said the discovery changed the way she looked at her own diagnosis. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n
Doctors found 22 polyps in Ida\u2019s bowel. She was diagnosed with polyposis, and will need to undergo regular colonoscopies to monitor and remove the growths.<\/p>\n
“When [the doctor] told us all of this, I just burst into tears,” Dance recalled.<\/p>\n
“Not necessarily because I was sad, it was just that this all made sense.”<\/p>\n
Dance said she has spent months wondering why she became sick, but the discovery changed the way she looked at her own diagnosis.<\/p>\n
“If I hadn\u2019t got sick, we wouldn\u2019t have known about Ida,” she said. <\/p>\n
Promising news<\/p>\n