Now, the Yorta Yorta and Gunnai/Kurnai health advocate is turning her fierce determination towards a new battle: ensuring mob don't miss out on free, life-saving lung cancer screenings.
Aunty Sharon has dedicated her career to Aboriginal health, starting at the first Aboriginal Health Service in Fitzroy in 1978 and going on to serve communities across Victoria, including Echuca.
Personally, she had always been proactive with her health. So when she began noticing changes in her body at 45, she trusted her instincts and sought medical advice straight away.
She found she had bowel cancer.
That decision to act early not only saved her life once — it saved her a second time, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020.
She beat both cancers, and today Aunty Sharon stands as a powerful voice for early detection and preventive health care within First Nations communities.
"I know first-hand how important early detection is,” she said.
“When cancer is found early, it gives people more treatment options and a better chance of success.”
Aunty Sharon is urging everyone who is eligible to take the step and book their free lung cancer screening today — it could save your life.
You may be eligible if you:
- are aged between 50 and 70 years old, and
- currently smoke tobacco cigarettes or have quit in the past 10 years
- don’t have any signs or symptoms of lung cancer
- have a smoking history of 30 pack-years or more
"If this information had been around when our parents and Elders were growing up, maybe it could have kept them around a lot longer,“ Aunty Sharon said.
To learn more or find out if you’re eligible, visit www.lungcancerscreen.org.au/for-first-nations-people
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