- Stories/
- Personal Stories/
- Vicki's Story
Vicki's story: "I wanted somebody I could talk to."

Vicki Riddington became a regular donor to the McGrath Foundation this year, after learning that we were now taking our care to all cancers.
Vicki, who is based in Regional Victoria has experienced cancer three times.
In 2009, she was diagnosed with Nasopharyngeal cancer. Then in 2023, Vicki was diagnosed with different types of breast cancer in both breasts.
“There are so many questions and reassurances that you want.”
- Vicki
While she didn’t have the care of a McGrath Cancer Care Nurse during her first cancer experience, she was supported throughout her breast cancers by McGrath Cancer Care Nurse, Megan Farrell.
As a nurse herself, Vicki says she asked lots of questions to her medical team during her first cancer, but adds, “I would have loved to have somebody like a McGrath Cancer Care Nurse back then. There are so many questions and reassurances that you want.”
Going through cancer alone
Based in Echuca on the NSW/Victoria border, Vicki had to travel to Melbourne for treatment during her first cancer, an experience she describes as “lonely”.
She went through 35 rounds of radiation, 17 weeks of chemotherapy and several hospital admissions.
“It would have been even worse if I didn’t know anything about the morphine I was taking, and I only knew about that because I was a nurse,” she says. “But I still wanted someone I could talk to.”
Vicki adds: “If I’d had a McGrath Cancer Care Nurse back then, I wouldn’t have felt so alone and would have felt far more informed. You can look things up, but it’s not the same because everyone’s cancer is totally different.
“And as much as the medical people were very good, there was no one person that you could sort of hook onto that knew your disease and answer the questions you have at the time. You may not see the oncologist until the end of the week, but there are questions in the meantime that really worry you.
“If I’d had a McGrath Cancer Care Nurse back then, I wouldn’t have felt so alone and would have felt far more informed.”
- Vicki
The difference a McGrath Cancer Care makes
In contrast, Vicki says her experience of breast cancer was completely different thanks to the support of her McGrath Cancer Care Nurse Megan.
“I was completely overwhelmed by the service that the McGrath Foundation offered,” she says. “Megan has a bright, bubbly personality, a compassionate presence, and very supportive. She made you feel like you were important and that you could ring her at any time.
“There is nothing more worrying than what you don’t know, answers you would like, or you’re thinking that things are worse than they really are,” Vicki says. “Megan was well informed and competent which left you feeling reassured. I felt she was the nursing connection and was different than speaking to the surgeon or oncologist.”
McGrath Cancer Care Nurses now support people going through any type of cancer, something Vicki says is “fantastic”.
“It changes the care that is on offer.”