Sydney grandmother Gayle has endured cancer five times and lost 11 organs in the process. Doctors are calling her a ‘medical miracle’.

A grandmother of ten is thankful to be alive after surviving cancer five times and being hailed as a ‘medical miracle’ by doctors.

It has been more than three decades since Gayle Dean, now 72, was out shopping with a friend in Dee Why on Sydney’s northern beaches in 1991 when they walked pasta medical centre advertising free mammograms.

The then 38-year-old and her friend had never heard of them before and thought it ‘might be fun’.

The single mum-of-three instead found out she had a four-centimetre malignant tumour in her left breast, starting her decades-long cancer battle.

Ms Dean recalled being in ‘total shock’ as she had not experienced any symptoms.

‘I was 38, I was feeling well. I’ve never had a major medical problem of any kind and yet it was there. But that’s the nature of cancer. It’s insidious,’ she told news.com.au.

As a single mother, Ms Dean thought of her children and saw them as her main motivation to live.

A week later, she was scheduled to have a mastectomy, to remove her left breast.

The mum said it was during this time she prayed to God, asking him to let her live because ‘no-one can bring them up as well as I can’. 

Post-surgery, Ms Dean underwent six months of ‘very heavy’ chemotherapy which left her with no hair. 

Even though she was cancer free, she still wondered if she was a ‘ticking time bomb’ and continued to have mammograms.

Five years later in 1996, Ms Dean was diagnosed with cancer a second time, this time in her right breast.

She was admitted to hospital within a week to have the cancerous breast removed.

Ms Dean then went into ‘fight mode’ and always saw cancer as ‘an enemy to be beaten’.

More chemotherapy ‘messed up her system’ and took a toll on her body.

She experienced vaginal bleeding in 1999 and after a trip to the gynaecologist, was told that the lining of her uterus ‘is full of cancer’.

After having a hysterectomy to remove her uterine cancer, Ms Dean said she felt like everything in her body was being ‘stripped away.’

The former teacher spent the next 16 years cancer-free which including marrying her husband, celebrating the arrival of her grandchildren and travels around the world.

She still continued her regular check-ups, where she became used to hearing words such as ‘remission’ and ‘you’re cured’. 

In 2015 she had a routine colonoscopy, despite ‘feeling fine’ and having no symptoms.

Doctors found a pelvic tumour the size of a tennis ball.  

Ms Dean went through radiotherapy and chemotherapy at the same time – which she described as the ‘worst nine weeks’ of her life. 

The treatment was successful in killing the cancer, but it damaged her organs – as well as the need for a colostomy bag. 

The grandmother of 10 was admitted to hospital last year for a bowel blockage with her colostomy bag, 

But doctors discovered something else. 

She had cancer in her left kidney and had to have it taken out.

The 72-year-old is hopeful that cancer won’t return after having many organs removed, including her breasts, as well as 26 lymph nodes, her uterus, fallopian tubes, ovaries, gallbladder and her left kidney. 

The mum said doctors have described her as a ‘medical miracle’ and she is ‘thankful’ to have survived. 

‘Numerous doctors have told me they have not known anybody to have five different very serious cancers and have survived them,’ she said.

In 2017, Ms Dean had a positive test result for the BRCA gene mutation, which explained her first two breast cancers.

The mum has agreed to become a subject of cancer research, hopefully helping others as the researchers will be looking for genetic faults and undiscovered genes. 

Ms Dean said that her faith, family and positive mindset helped her through her cancer battles. 

The grandmother, who also takes part in public speaking and who is working as a funeral celebrant, says her whole life is about gratitude.

She also wants people battling cancer to know it’s OK to be angry and you don’t have to be strong or independent and to accept help.