ALTHOUGH born an entertainer, Carole Heap prefers causes, not people, to shine in the spotlight.
At the age of 49, Mrs Heap didn’t think she would make it to 50, let alone 70.
The prolific breast cancer fundraiser celebrated the first of her Septuagenarian birthdays with family last Tuesday at Barham before a gathering of close friends at Cohuna on Saturday.
“The journey has made me a much better person,” the breast cancer survivor said.
Born at the Kerang Hospital on January 5, 1946, Mrs Heap was educated at Kerang Primary School and Kerang Technical High School.
“My parents used to go to shows and show chooks and my dad asked me to put on my pretty dress and enter the showgirl competition. He said if everyone said they didn’t want to go into it, then they would have no entrants,” she said.
“I developed a taste for going to balls and I loved dancing. I would sneak out of the pictures of a Saturday night to race down to the old fire brigade hall in Kerang so I could get in two or three dances before midnight, then I would race back home.”
It was at a Cohuna dance meet when she met her future husband, Gary Heap. They wed on December 17, 1966 at the Church of England and yielded two children, Lara and Jason.
Mrs Heap, who was a keen tennis player and golfer, turned her hand to the fashion industry in the 1980s, managing a boutique fashion outlet in Cohuna and helping sporting clubs as a compere at fundraising events.
Mrs Heap’s community mind was nurtured from a young age.
“It was during the 1956 floods when I volunteered to help fill sand bags, but before then I made scones and sandwiches for the firemen when shops were gutted in a spectacular fire at Kerang in late 1954,” she said.
Mrs Heap’s generosity was returned in dosages when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995, at the age of 49.
“I met up with a group of women who undertook adventures and fundraised for breast cancer research. I joined 20 other women from all around Australia,” she said.
“We then went on a journey of a lifetime…of my lifetime.”
For five weeks in 1998, they paddled along the Murray River from Tocumwal to Mildura.
“Most of us were unwell and in different stages of treatment,” she said.
“We did it for the cause – to mainstream our message for all women who needed support.”
The life-changing feat raised close to $40,000 and helped forge a close bond with many campaigners, including Olympic athlete, Raelene Boyle.
Ever since, Mrs Heap has been a passionate awareness advocate for Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA) and across the district, working alongside Ms Boyle to raise money, awareness and ensure rural women received the best treatment.
“My life turned a different direction. I opened up about it; formed groups; went to forums in Melbourne; discussed how our treatments were progressing in the district,” she said.
Mrs Heap underwent chemotherapy in the final weeks of 1995 before four months of radiotherapy at Freemasons Hospital in East Melbourne.
“No one told us nothing in those days. I can remember going down to the specialist to be pattered out to have the operation, then returning, then going back to Melbourne for radiotherapy in tears because we just didn’t know what was ahead of us,” she said.
“Here I was trying to help everyone else, but there was nobody out there to give me any information.”
Mrs Heap continues to raise funds for breast cancer “survival” kits, comprising diaries, specialists and the “bible” on cancer treatment.
In 2005 and 2010, Mrs Heap took a bus load of “Carole’s Country Chicks” to the Field of Women at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where 15,000 people, donned in pink ponchos, stood shoulder-to-shoulder on the turf to form the outline of a life-size pink lady.
Mrs Heap was spurred on to continue her fundraising efforts with a gala dinner at Cohuna in 2012, which raised close to $30,000 for BCNA and $10,000 for Cohuna District Hospital.
Mrs Heap’s efforts were recognised when she was named a finalist in the Gannawarra Shire Citizen of the Year awards in 2013.
The past 20 years has seen Mrs Heap shine a light of hope on women fighting for their lives.
“I love my family; I live for them and enjoy nurturing them with my values and standards so they can grow up to be good community-minded adults.”
