Eight years ago, Sarah Mamalai trekked the Kokoda Trail while she was undergoing chemo, a task she calls, "the hardest thing I've ever done". This Sunday she'll face another mammoth trek – but this time it's only two kilometres long.
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Mamalai was diagnosed with a glioblastoma brain tumour at age 33.
"I went from being a normal mother of two one day to being on the surgery table five days later having brain surgery," she said.
After surgery, she was told she had, at most, 18 months to live, and it could be as little as three – a devastating prognosis for anyone, let alone with two children under five.
Mamalai was sent home to, "just enjoy being with my children, and they didn't say it, but until you die". But her sister, a nurse, decided to get a second opinion, and arranged an appointment with renowned neurosurgeon Dr Charlie Teo in Sydney.
Three weeks later, she chose to go under the knife again, with Dr Teo removing 97 per cent of the tumour.
It was after that, in between rounds of chemotherapy, that she decided to trek Kokoda, raising $55,000 with her group for brain cancer research in the process.
From there, everything was going well until a routine scan in September last year showed an abnormality. After having surgery yet again, she woke up and couldn't move the entire left side of her body.
Thus began her next battle – a long, slow rehabilitation process, first in Sydney then back home in Canberra.
"I had to learn to do everything – I had to learn to walk, I couldn't talk or use a knife and fork or write my name or put my shoes on or shower. It was all totally gone," she said.
She knew she needed a goal to focus on, and that became this Sunday's Walk 4 Brain Cancer at Stromlo Park. To get ready for the two kilometre walk, she's been walking her dog for practice.
"My goal back when I got diagnosed was to do Kokoda, because I needed something massive to take my mind off everything. But this also feels just as massive," she said.
"There's no reason medically that I'm still here [while] other people aren't. I've lost four friends to this disease and it's hard because they all fought as well.
"Having a fighting spirit – it can't save your life but it can make the time that you have here better."
Anyone can join the walk on the day, and the track is suitable for kids, wheelchairs and strollers, and there's also an optional extra three kilometre bushwalk.
The Walk 4 Brain Cancer Canberra is on Sunday November 13 at at 9.30am at Stromlo Park. Register at walk4braincancer.com.au or on the day from 8am.
