It was shaping up to be the best year of Rhiannon Abshoff's life.

She and her husband had just bought their first apartment, and were besotted with their 18-month-old son, Lennox.

"Everything was blissful," Rhi told Mamamia.

But, just a week before Christmas, the new mum would find herself sobbing down the phone as a doctor delivered life-altering news.

Watch: Family history and breast cancer risk. Post continues after video.

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WELL | Family History and Breast Cancer Risk - Age Matters

Rhi was in her final month of maternity leave when she found a lump in her breast.

With no family history of breast cancer, the 32-year-old intended to shrug it off. But her husband persuaded her to book a doctor's appointment.

"I was pretty convinced nothing was wrong," Rhi said.

A couple of days later, while her husband was out Christmas shopping, she got a call from the doctor. She'll never forget his next six words.

"Rhi, you've definitely got breast cancer," they said.

Baby Lennox crawled around the floor. Rhi stilled.

"I just burst into tears," she said. "I screamed into the phone. I was like, 'What about my son? I don't want to die!'"

The doctor sat with Rhi on the phone as she cried, and booked her a specialist appointment for the following morning.

"I watched my son crawl around like nothing was happening, and then I got off the phone, and I called my husband," Rhi said. "Immediately, he was like: 'I'm coming home.'"

But Rhi insisted he finished his shopping.

"I was like, 'No, no, no, you can't have cancer and no Christmas.'

Sleep didn't come easy that night.

"My husband and I would go between watching stand-up comedy and crying."

Rhi met her care team the next day, who told her that chemotherapy could potentially ruin her fertility.

"They asked me, 'Do you want to save some eggs before you start chemo?' And I responded I just wanted to go straight to treatment," Rhi said.

"But they knew we were trying for a second child, and my doctor was like, 'Look, you're probably in shock, I think you should save the embryos.'"

Rhi agreed.

For the next few weeks, she hid her diagnosis and appointments from everyone in her family, other than her sister.

"I didn't want to ruin everyone's Christmas, I kept it a secret until closer to New Year," she said.

Rhi was diagnosed with breast cancer at 31. Image: Jacqui Turner

She started chemotherapy towards the end of January. The plan was 16 rounds, but things didn't go smoothly.

"I had a lot of issues with my white blood cell count," said Rhi. "I had a lot of delayed and cancelled treatments."

After the fourth round, Rhi's surgeon sent her for an MRI. It showed that the tumour was bigger than the medical team had realised.

While her chemotherapy doctor insisted they continue treatment, the surgeon insisted Rhi head into surgery as soon as possible. She received a double mastectomy with an immediate reconstruction.

"It turns out my tumour was five centimetres," Rhi said. "The surgeon came and said, 'I feel like we saved your life. If we had left it any longer, it probably would have spread to the lymph nodes.'"

Rhi went on to complete 12 rounds of chemo and 25 rounds of radiation. Her husband was her rock throughout the journey.

"He came to every single appointment, and he would come with a notebook. He'd write down all the notes for me, because my brain was often out of it. And he definitely carried the load with my son too."

When Lennox wasn't in daycare, Rhi would often have to take precautions to avoid catching illnesses from her son.

"If he came home with a runny nose, I'd wear a mask around the house," said Rhi. "It was really upsetting. It really dehumanised me sometimes. I felt like I couldn't even smile at my son.

"If I was laughing, he couldn't really tell. And at that age, I feel like facial recognition and interaction is a big part of communication."

Even at her lowest points physically, Rhi made a pact to never miss school pick up.

"I still managed to walk there every day to get him and drop him off," she said. "It didn't matter how long it was going to take me, but I would still go."

From the moment she was diagnosed, Lennox was at the top of Rhi's mind.

Rhi's son Lennox was one-and-a-half when she was diagnosed. Image: Supplied

"I remember calling my best friend and I said, 'What if I die? What will Lennox know of me?'" Rhi recalled. "And she was like, 'You're so good at your job, and you run a great team…

"And I was like, 'No, no, no, they're all the things I don't want him to know about me. I want him to know my heart. How will he know that?"

Around the same time, Rhi was growing increasingly angry with the campaigns she had seen about breast cancer. The pink backgrounds, and smiling women in headscarves were so far from her reality.

"I was like, I'm not represented in these pictures or in these conversations," she said. "So I invited a professional photographer to document all the appointments; my surgery, my chemo, and I created a body of work."

The project, which featured over 700 photos and videos, led to an exhibition, called UNSAID, which ran for six weeks, to help cancer patients feel "less alone and less afraid when they go through what I have."

The photos and videos were also a way for Lennox to truly know his mum's "spirit."

"If I died, they would be there for my son," Rhi said in her UNSAID project.

She told us: "If anything happens to me, he'll know that I gave it my goddamn best shot.

"I fought it as hard as I could. I showed up to every treatment, and I took every drug, and I didn't say no to anything."

Rhi finished her radiation in November 2024, and has just completed one year of Hormone Reduction Therapy.

This Saturday, March 14th, she will be a key speaker at the Australian Turf Club's Pink Fashion Lunch at Chandon Ladies' Day. You can learn more about the event here .

Feature Image: Supplied