A woman who has raised funds for breast cancer research since she was a teenager has now been diagnosed with the disease herself.
Emily Harrison-Suhr, 31, from Melbourne, was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer five years ago after finding a lump in her breast.
She initially dismissed concerns about it because of her young age and didn’t seek treatment for it for months, thinking it would disappear. However it didn’t.
Ms Harrison-Suhr was later diagnosed with stage three breast cancer and underwent nine months of intensive treatment, including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, egg retrieval surgery and an operation to remove the tumour.
‘The second round was one of the worst things I’ve ever experienced,’ Ms Harrison-Suhr told the Daily Mail.
‘It was awful. I had really bad nausea and bone pain and just this almost debilitating level of tiredness.’
After doing a series of genetic tests, doctors found Ms Harrison-Suhr had the BRCA1 mutation – a gene fault that increases lifetime breast cancer risk by up to 72 per cent, and ovarian cancer by up to 46 per cent.
It was found that Ms Harrison-Suhr had inherited the gene from her father, with all three of her siblings also carrying the mutation.
Emily Harrison-Suhr, who was diagnosed with incurable breast cancer, is fronting a national campaign to raise funds for Breast Cancer Network Australia (pictured with her dog Ollie)
She first became aware of BCNA when she started working at Bakers Delight when she was 16
Despite knowing of her increased risk to redeveloping cancer, Ms Harrison-Suhr admits she finally felt like she could breathe.
‘I was going to be on five to 10 years of hormone suppressants and have regular scans, so I felt like I was out of the thick of it,’ she said.
‘It was a weird space to be in – all of your supports sort of drop off, but you’re still going through the motions of trying to come back to who you were.
‘But I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.’
However, six months after she completed an immunotherapy trial, Ms Harrison-Suhr found another lump in her rib, and tests revealed the cancer had metastasised.
‘I just got really angry. I thought I’d done everything they threw at me and it’s come back, so what have I done wrong? There’s no rhyme or reason to it,’ she said.
‘I’ve gotten over the anger now… it’s treatable, but incurable.’
While balancing her work in construction management admin and her Masters degree, Ms Harrison-Suhr is also championing the Bakers Delight ‘Pink Bun’ campaign.
She said it was a ‘full-circle moment’ to become the face of the Pink Bun campaign
The pink-sprinkled buns are available to purchase between May 14 and May 27
She’d spent eight years selling thousands of the pink-sprinkled buns while working as a teen at her local Bakers Delight store.
But it was a bittersweet moment for Ms Harrison-Suhr to be asked to front the national campaign to raise funds for Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA).
‘It’s a weird one. It’s obviously not something you want to be eligible for,’ Ms Harrison-Suhr said.
‘It just feels very full-circle and I feel honoured to be involved considering I watched the campaign for so many years.
‘We would set it up in the bakery and try and do it justice because it’s so important.
‘To now be the person that the girls see when they’re setting up the posters in the shop – and it’s me, and I’m only 31 – I hope it will resonate with people to see someone [with cancer] at that age. It can happen to anyone.’
More than 20,000 people a year are diagnosed with breast cancer in Australia, an average of 55 people a day, and more than 1,000 of those were under 40 in 2025.
From May 14-27, people can buy a six pack of Bakers Delight Pink Fun Buns and keep Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA) as the first call for breast cancer information and support.
