I was born and initially raised in the mid-north rural township of Terowie in South Australia, then educated and started working in the industrial township of Port Pirie and have been living and working in Adelaide since 1988. My professional background includes pharmacy frontline management, marketing and operations and real estate/property sales, marketing and ownership and I have been self-employed since 2014 in 3 very different businesses simultaneously – real estate, tourism accommodation and holistic health. My life has been very full, but never greater than that of facing life after a cancer diagnosis. Everything changed in late October 2023, when sudden, strong abdominal pains led me down a path I never expected. On 10 November, coincidentally World Neuroendocrine Cancer Day, my GP advised from a CT scan, that I had a neuroendocrine tumour in my small bowel and just 11 days later, my specialist surgeon removed the primary NET in a resection procedure. I had never, ever heard of NETs, but those 3 words “You have cancer” and the following “it’s metastatic”, catapulted my life into a great unknown space. Life had already tested me before this, as I lost my husband of 16.5 weeks to prostate cancer 7 years prior in 2016 and just 14 months before my diagnosis, I lost my beautiful Mum at 101 years old in 2022 during the pandemic and in my teenage years, helped her look after my Dad in his years of several strokes and eventual diagnosis of lung cancer.
I thought I had faced enough challenges, but in that moment after hitting the brick wall at full speed, I knew cancer had become part of my own story, but my holistic self started to rise. While still in hospital, I turned to online research, with an intention not to overwhelm myself, but to find clarity around my health condition and to discover where I could find support. By January 2024, my medical team had come together and during my search, I discovered NeuroEndocrine Cancer Australia (NECA). I participated in the Living with NETs workshop as a newly diagnosed patient in February 2024 and I have leaned into the NECA nurses for support since, I attend the NETs SA Support Group and online National Support Group forums as often as I can and I was the consumer advocate for NECA at the COSA-IPOS Conference Workshop Day in Adelaide on 11 November 2025.
When NECA asked if I may be interested in becoming a Consumer Advisory Group (CAG) volunteer participant based in South Australia, I did my research around the concept and purpose of such a group and decided that my knowledge, experience and skillset, as a cancer patient, a cancer widow and cancer patient’s daughter, may be of benefit within this part of our health community. By nature, I am a proactively passionate person about things that I believe in, which involves genuine intention, goodness and connection, enhances health and wellness and drives and evolves progress, so with my focus of contributing positively to NECA’s CAG, I accepted the offer and attended the first group meeting in October 2025.
Besides, the rainbow is my favourite emblem, unicorns are well established in our space and our tagline NEGU – never, ever giving up – is my mantra. Every day, I choose to walk with awareness, resilience and the belief that I am more than my diagnosis. I also believe a journey when shared, be it in voice, words or gentle support, can make a difference to someone, somewhere and that is what feeds and warms my soul. Peace, love and light to our CAG collective and health community all around Australia and worldwide. Let’s keep going and paint the sky bluer than blue!’ Karen Vial
#neuroendocrinecancer #neuroendocrinecancerawareness #NETs #neuroendocrinetumour #neuroendocrinecanceraustralia
