Bianca was 37 when she experienced sudden, scary symptoms during a shift at her 'dream job'. What followed was a devastating diagnosis she never saw coming…

When Bianca Ricks drove home from work with sharp chest pains in 2022, she never imagined it would be the start of a nightmare that would change her life forever.

The then 37-year-old had just made a bold move from Brisbane to Toowoomba in Queensland, to take on a new leadership role in hospitality.

It was a ‘dream job’ – opening and managing a brand-new fine dining steak restaurant in the area, and fully immersing herself in a new town.

But in the middle of a shift, Bianca started to feel excruciating pains in her chest.

At first, she brushed it off as stress and anxiety from months of ‘go, go, go’, but as the discomfort worsened on the drive home, she feared the worst.

‘I’d started driving, and thought to myself, something’s really wrong. I’m going to go to emergency. I thought I was having a heart attack or a stroke,’ she told FEMAIL.

Trusting her gut, Bianca’s decision was the right one. Doctors initially suspected gallstones as her liver was enlarged, but what followed was a whirlwind of tests, MRI scans, ECGs and bloodwork that revealed something far more sinister.

Up until that point, Bianca had no other symptoms and had experienced ‘nothing out of the ordinary’ in her day-to-day life.

‘Obviously, some of the things that I know now were warning signs,’ she said. ‘But given that I was doing shift work, not eating as regularly [because of] hospitality hours… I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. I felt perfectly fine,’ she said.

Just 12 hours later, Bianca was referred to an oncologist where a routine PET scan revealed the diagnosis that turned her world upside down: stage four bowel cancer that had already spread to her liver.

However, instead of the shock news making her completely crumble, Bianca handled it with positivity and sheer determination to get her life back on track as quickly as possible.

‘I’m a very black and white sort of person. I knew that wasn’t good news, but most of it was out of my control. My thought was “okay, what’s the plan? What are we doing? What’s the next steps?”‘

That week, instead of returning home to her happy life and new job, Bianca remained at the hospital for more extensive tests, a new liquid diet, and discussed her urgent treatment plan with medical experts.

Within that whirlwind five days, Bianca had a permanent portocath inserted into her chest ready for chemotherapy.

For those that don’t know, a portocath is a pipe directly into the heart to administer chemotherapy.

‘Rather than having to access a different vein every time, they have this as sometimes I need to be accessed multiple times a day, week or month,’ she said.

The treatment initially gave her hope with the plan to shrink the tumours in her liver with chemo before undergoing surgery to remove her bowel altogether.

Since her initial diagnosis, Bianca has endured non-stop, gruelling rounds of chemo every two weeks.

‘I was very fortunate that my job, particularly my boss who I’ve worked with for almost 20 years, was very supportive,’ she said.

‘We worked Wednesday to Sunday. So, my chemo would be on a Monday, which allowed me to have the Tuesday to recover, and then the Wednesday I would go back to work. If I didn’t feel good, there was desk work I could do.’

Throughout her chemo, Bianca experienced intense nausea and vomiting, mouth ulcers so bad she couldn’t eat, and bouts of ‘incredibly horrific chemo rash’ where she could barely open her eyes or talk.

Through it all, Bianca has shown extraordinary strength, continuing to work full-time in hospitality up until May this year, while battling fatigue, pain and emotional exhaustion.

She has also lived independently, supported herself financially, and leaned on the kindness of friends, colleagues, family and even complete strangers who crossed her path in treatment rooms.

But sadly, after all that, her cancer has not responded as doctors had hoped.

‘Unfortunately, things haven’t gone as planned. Nearly three years later, I’m still undergoing regular treatments, but surgery is no longer an option,’ she said.

A year-and-a-half into treatment, doctors decided to give Bianca’s body and immune system a break.

However, in just two months off chemo, the cancer rapidly spread to her lungs – proving it was so aggressive, there would be ‘no chance to have surgery’.

Heartbreakingly, she is now out of chemo options too: ‘It’s up to the battle between my body and the cancer at this point.’

Recently, the physical and financial toll of her condition became too much to bear alone.

Forced to give up work due to the intensity of her illness, Bianca has also had to sell her home and move in with her parents as she focuses entirely on her health.

‘I had to pay back some debts, have the money to break my lease into Toowoomba and move back to Redcliffe, and now to live on what little is left,’ she said.

Even though she’s been told that her time on earth is going to be shorter than anticipated, Bianca has the mindset of making the most of every day, having goals and remaining positive.

‘There have certainly been some rough days and tough weeks, but I’ve been blessed with an incredible support network,’ she said.

‘You never know what time you’ve got. So eat all the cheese, drink all the wine and tell someone you love them.’