Every scar tells a life story.

Daphne Hass's story

At 77, Daphne Hass considers herself very lucky.

For 50 years she was a stalwart of the Brisbane softball community, beginning as a player when she was a child. In 1946, she and her sisters started the Brisbane Bears, one of Australia’s oldest softball clubs.

“All the family represented Queensland for sport,” Daphne says of her nine siblings. Her grandson, 16-year old Nathan, is being courted by baseball teams in the United States.

After playing for more than 25 years, including second base for Brisbane and Queensland, Daphne moved into sports administration. She was the President of the Brisbane Softball Association for 16 years, finally retiring from the role in 2000.

For her dedication to the sport, Daphne received an Order of Australia Medal in 1993.

“The 1947 Queensland softball team still gets together every year for a reunion,” Daphne says. “And every two months I meet up with friends from the World Masters Games.”

In November 2008, Daphne had a routine colonoscopy for diverticulitis and was told she had bowel cancer after a routine colonoscopy. She had surgery at The Prince Charles Hospital and then 12 chemotherapy treatments.

“I’m just so lucky,” she says. “It’s just unbelievable the treatment I received in the chemo ward.”

Now two years after her initial diagnosis, Daphne is getting back to her normal life with husband of 56 years, Alwyn.

“I’m one of ten children – the only one left,” she says. “My mother had breast cancer and two brothers and two sisters died from cancer years ago. If they’d had the kind of treatment then that I got now, they might still be here.”