Doctors said my painkiller-resistant migraines were just ‘getting old’. It was a cancer nobody talks about

Deborah Terkely has always been the healthy one.

She exercised regularly, ate well and kept on top of her health checks – partly because thyroid disease runs strongly in her family. 

Both her sisters live with underactive thyroid conditions – one with Hashimoto’s disease, where the immune system attacks the thyroid gland – and Deborah made a point of asking doctors to include thyroid tests whenever she had routine blood work.

Every time, the results came back normal.

So when her life suddenly ground to a halt in late 2022, thyroid cancer never crossed her mind.

‘I’d always been healthy,’ the now 42-year-old tells the Daily Mail.

‘I’d never had problems with fatigue or puffiness like my sisters had. My blood tests were always fine. So I just never thought it would be me.’

At the time, the Melbourne mum of two was 39, running a natural skincare and soap business with her husband and raising their two young boys in Narre Warren, in Melbourne’s south-east. Life was busy but good. She describes herself as social, active and always on the go.

Then came the migraine. 

It hit after a stressful family argument and felt unlike anything she’d experienced before. The pain was so intense that she was largely confined to bed for several days, barely eating or drinking. When the migraine eased, the pain didn’t fully leave. 

Instead, it settled into a constant headache, paired with severe neck pain.

For Deborah, this was deeply unusual.

‘I don’t get headaches,’ she says. ‘So when this just didn’t go away, I knew something wasn’t right.’

Her long-term doctor initially reassured her it was likely stress or age-related tension and prescribed strong painkillers and muscle relaxants. But Deborah says her gut told her something more serious was going on.

The medication barely touched the pain.

‘I just had this sick feeling that something was wrong, and I couldn’t shake it.’

Trusting that instinct, she sought a second opinion and pushed for further testing. An MRI scan was ordered to investigate the headaches.

Instead, it revealed something unexpected: a suspicious lump in her neck.

At first, Deborah tried not to panic. A biopsy was organised, but waiting for the results felt endless.

‘I was constantly on the phone asking if they had the answers yet,’ she says. ‘I just needed to know.’

The call finally came while she was at home after a family dinner. It was a telehealth appointment with a doctor she hadn’t met before. Her usual GP was on leave.

‘He just said, “I’m sorry to tell you your biopsy has come back positive for cancer,”‘ Deborah recalls.

Her mind immediately jumped to her children.

‘At that moment, I just thought, am I going to die? Am I going to be there for my kids?’

Her boys were only eight and five at the time.

‘The first thing I said was, “What do I do now?” I had no idea what happens next when someone tells you that.’

Within weeks, Deborah was in hospital preparing for major surgery. In January 2023, surgeons removed her entire thyroid along with lymph nodes from the left side of her neck. Of the 70 nodes removed, 20 contained cancer cells, confirming the disease had already spread locally.

The operation lasted more than six hours and recovery proved harder than she’d expected. Pain and limited movement lingered for months, particularly in her left shoulder, which developed bursitis following the surgery.

‘Simple things were hard,’ she says. ‘Even holding a knife and fork to eat hurt. Sleeping was uncomfortable. My mobility was really restricted.’

Running a small manufacturing business suddenly became far more difficult. Soap-making is physically demanding, and Deborah relied heavily on her husband while she slowly regained strength.

But surgery was only part of treatment. Because the cancer had spread, Deborah also needed radioactive iodine therapy to destroy any remaining cancer cells.

The treatment came with its own emotional challenges.

For safety reasons, she had to stay away from her children during and after treatment while the radiation cleared from her system. Even after returning home, she had to limit close contact for around two weeks.

‘That was incredibly hard,’ she says. ‘Mum was home, but they couldn’t cuddle me. They didn’t fully understand why.’

For Deborah, that separation was one of the most emotionally difficult parts of the experience.

‘You just want to comfort your kids, and they want their mum. But you have to keep your distance.’

By mid-2023, doctors delivered the news she’d been hoping for. She was clear of cancer. Yet recovery still felt slow and unpredictable.

Even before surgery, Deborah began researching ways to support her body through treatment and recovery. She says she spent hours reading about immune support and inflammation, determined to give her body the best chance to cope with what lay ahead.

‘I wanted my body to be as strong as possible going into surgery and afterwards,’ she says.

Through her research, she introduced several supplements into her routine, including black seed oil, turkey tail mushroom extract, and milk thistle.

Black seed oil, sometimes called Nigella sativa, is commonly used in complementary health practices and is believed to support inflammation regulation and immune health. Deborah began taking it daily in the hope of helping her body manage the stress of surgery and recovery.

Turkey tail is a kind of medicinal mushroom traditionally used to support immune function. Deborah says she was drawn to research suggesting certain medicinal mushrooms may help strengthen the immune response, something she felt was crucial while her body was fighting cancer and recovering from major surgery.

Milk thistle was another addition, chosen for its association with liver support – particularly important, she felt, while undergoing treatments and taking multiple medications.

‘There was a lot of research involved,’ she says.

‘I didn’t want to waste time or money. I wanted things that were known to actually support the body, especially the immune system.’

Some products were harder to source, with a few imported from overseas, while others were readily available in Australia, varying in price from $20 to $60 (between around £10 and £30). She began taking them before surgery and continued throughout recovery.

Alongside supplements, Deborah and her family business also developed a natural skin serum to help heal her surgical scar. Seeing visible improvement in her neck scar over time became an emotional boost during recovery.

‘It helped seeing something positive happening,’ she says. ‘I could see my body healing.’

Doctors were also impressed with how well the scar was recovering, something Deborah attributes to both the topical care and her overall focus on supporting her body internally and externally.

Gradually, her strength and energy returned. About six to eight weeks after surgery, she reached a turning point.

‘It was slow, but I knew I was getting better,’ she says.

Today, Deborah says she feels well and has returned to exercising, working and enjoying life with her family. But the experience changed her priorities.

‘Before, business was everything because we work for ourselves,’ she says. ‘Now I make sure family time comes first. Sending emails at night can wait.’

Cancer also remains quietly present in her thoughts.

‘It never fully leaves your mind,’ she says.

‘You always wonder if it could come back. So you work on staying positive and taking care of yourself.’

One thing Deborah feels strongly about now is raising awareness of thyroid cancer, which often flies under the radar.

‘Nobody talks about thyroid cancer,’ she says. ‘I didn’t even know it existed until I was diagnosed.’

According to national health estimates, more than a million Australians may be living with undiagnosed thyroid conditions, with symptoms often mistaken for stress, ageing or lifestyle factors.

Fatigue, weight changes, mood shifts and metabolism issues can all be linked to thyroid function, yet many people don’t think to have it checked.

Deborah encourages people, especially women, to request thyroid testing if they feel something isn’t right.

‘A blood test and an ultrasound are simple,’ she says. ‘And they can tell you so much.’

Looking back, Deborah says the hardest moment remains hearing the word cancer.

‘The shock and the fear. Not knowing if you’ll be okay or be there for your family. That was the worst part.’

But today, gratitude outweighs fear.

‘I’m grateful for my health,’ she says. ‘And that something positive came out of such a traumatic experience. Now I can support others going through similar things.’

Most of all, she says, she’s grateful simply to be here. Healthy, present and watching her boys grow up.