A young woman with terminal ovarian cancer shared her to-do list

Riding bareback on a horse, skydiving and flying in a fighter jet are some of the activities Alisi Jack-Kaufusi never thought she could do.

Six years ago the human resources administrator received the ‘shattering news’ that she had stage 3 ovarian cancer after scans found two grapefruit-sized tumors on each ovary .

Despite doctors’ best efforts, the diagnosis is terminal and doctors cannot confirm exactly how long he has left.

Now Alisi, originally from New Zealand but living in Brisbane, has devised a “timeless bucket list” of everything she wants to do while she can.

Before her diagnosis, Alisi, now 30, suffered from bloating in her lower abdomen, she was tired “all the time” and her menstrual cycle was “irregular”.

But she dismissed the symptoms because she assumed she was ‘too young for serious health issues’.

During a visit to a GP in October 2017, she mentioned that she had been bleeding for about a month and the blood was clotted and dark.

After undergoing several blood tests, an MRI and CT scan, she was booked for a biopsy after the doctor noticed “something was blocking” her ovaries.

Alisi’s world came crashing down in December 2017 after she learned she had ovarian cancer at age 24, given that the average age of women diagnosed with the disease is 64.

“Once I heard about ovarian cancer, I looked at mum and froze. It was as if the room had gone silent and all I could see was the mouth of the doctor moving. Everything was just a blur. I just remember saying to the doctor: “No, it’s not possible because I’m only 24, you have the wrong person”, Alisi remembers.

“The fact that the medical team told me that I had contracted this disease 30 years earlier was hard to deal with and still is. When you think cancer, you think old.

By the time she was diagnosed, the cancer had spread outside of her ovaries.

“I had to have a full hysterectomy and unfortunately they couldn’t save any eggs. In your twenties, the last thing on your mind is having to come to terms with not being able to have your own biological children. I felt robbed,” she said.

“I feel like all my wishes and goals are contained in a shorter time frame. I may not die tomorrow, but I may not live long enough to have long-term plans.

Alisi has devised a “timeless list” of 72 activities and travel plans – from seeing the Northern Lights to getting your teeth whitened and going on safari in South Africa.

“Riding down the beach on horseback was so therapeutic, and flying in the fighter jet was so exciting – I felt so free and could forget everything for half an hour,” she said.

Alisi also wants to travel to Tonga to swim with whales, as her family is from there, and to bungee jump in New Zealand.

Although she started on the list, she doesn’t know if she will have enough time to complete it.

“The only regret I have is not going to the doctor sooner to get my symptoms checked out – I put it off for about three months,” she said.

“The doctors were great but I really put off making an appointment. And I had never heard of ovarian cancer before my diagnosis.

“I was so shocked, upset and scared of what the future looked like for me.”

Fortunately, she had had the support of her family throughout the ordeal.