We are very sad to announce that Helen Collyer, a former member of BCNA's Advanced Breast Cancer Working Party, died last week.
 
Helen was a wonderfully inspiring woman, committed to BCNA and to making a difference to the lives of other women living with breast cancer.

A resident of Toowoomba Qld, Helen was a passionate advocate, especially for women with breast cancer living in rural and remote areas who, as she said, ‘are isolated in so many ways'.

A former member of our Advanced Breast Cancer Working Party, Helen generously contributed to the development of our new Hope & Hurdles Pack for women living with secondary breast cancer. She featured in our photo exhibition and presented at our Hope & Hurdles launch event and forum for women in Brisbane last November. Helen also wrote articles for our Inside Story magazine, with one featuring her message that ‘we women living with metastasised breast cancer need to be diligent in seeking answers and treatment'.

Helen's generous and inspiring nature touched all who knew her through BCNA. She was a woman of amazing strength and courage who will be greatly missed.

Tributes to Helen

Helen was our "Elegant" lady, always looking so well presented and with a presence and poise I can only dream about.  I will miss her, her article in Inside Story about getting second opinions was so good.  Right in there helping others right to the last.  A lovely lady.
Jurina Demain

Helen Collyer was well known to South Burnett residents as co-owner for many years of the South Burnett Times, and other newspapers which she and her husband Doug owned and managed from 1979 to 1994.

Helen was born in Auburn, New South Wales and grew up on the South Coast of NSW, first at Kiama and then Gerringong with her parents Jack and Evelyn Cleaver, elder brother Richard and younger sister, Lynne.

She was a keen surfer and ocean swimmer.

At school, Helen was particularly fond of English, and developed an uncompromising grammatical perfectionism that was later put to good use as the proof reader at the South Burnett Times.

After completing senior, Helen attended Business College in Wollongong and worked at a pharmacy in Kiama.

On the weekends, she played hockey for Gerringong and competed in athletics, becoming the Champion of Physical Culture for the South Coast.  

Career aspirations then beckoned and Helen moved to Sydney to train as a paediatric nurse at Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children in Camperdown.

After completing her training, Helen and her nursing colleague Trish Curtis went to Britain by ship in 1969.

During the six-week voyage, Helen met her future husband Doug Collyer, a civil engineer.

Helen and a group of nursing friends bought an old car, known as 'Colonel Bomb' and travelled around Europe and back to London.

Doug and Helen spent their courtship walking around London's parks and attending concerts at Royal Albert Hall.

They were married in Surrey and moved to Yorkshire where Doug worked on the construction of a shipping container terminal. 

Doug and Helen travelled Europe in an old Comby van before returning to Australia.  

When the couple returned to Australia in 1971, Doug worked in Brisbane, where their son Gregory was born.

They then moved to Sydney until Doug was again posted, this time to Taipei, Taiwan, where he worked on a World Bank project to build a bridge.

In 1975 year Helen flew back to Australia for the birth of their second child Catherine, returning to Taiwan with her two-week old baby.

The family returned to Australia two years later and Doug and Helen bought the South Burnett Times from Doug's aunt. They moved to Kingaroy in 1979 to take over as managers.

Over the following 15 years, Doug and Helen expanded the media business, buying another four Queensland newspapers, a printing company and a radio station.

Helen was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1994 and the couple eventually decided to sell the publishing business.

They retired to Toowoomba in 1997 where Helen used her new-found freedom to join community organizations including the gardening club, book club, sewing club and drinks club.

She also studied counselling and became a volunteer court support worker to help children who had to face the court system.

Helen was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer in 2002.

After being a cancer patient for many years, Helen became the carer, for Doug, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour in January last year and died five months later.

Helen faced her health challenges with gentleness and grace, refusing to be drawn into a ‘battle' with her disease.

Instead she danced a ‘pas de deux' keeping one step ahead of the disease by adopting an organic diet, becoming a devotee of mindfulness meditation and searching out the latest treatments offered by medical science.

She became a strong advocate for other cancer patients, attending and speaking at many conferences and helping to develop a national Breast Cancer Awareness Kit for patients with secondary cancer.

In November last year Helen assisted at the national launch of the kit and was interviewed by ABC National's Life Matters program.

Helen's funeral was a celebration of her positive outlook on life, which she articulated in a letter she wrote for her funeral to comfort mourning family and friends.

"My pas de deux with cancer has finally come to an end. What an interesting journey it was and I actually felt blest much of the time as it caused me to learn so much.

"Much about what I considered the really important things of life," she wrote.

"I had many challenges but I was also given enormous determination and strength and that didn't come from me it came from my God.

"This inner strength saw me through so much.

"I have come to believe that being a true Christian is not meant to be easy. It is meant to be challenging and to make one think, and think about the really important questions of life.

"This has been my experience.

"And I am looking forward to being in the presence of God and finally knowing the answers to so many questions."

Helen is survived by her mother Evelyn, her sister Lynne and her brother Richard, her children Greg and Catherine and their spouses and her grandson Lachlan.
Amanda Gearing

Last Updated: 12 March 2008