It was during last year’s soccer off-season, which her son Adam was spending back in his hometown of Perth, that Sue Taggart received surprise news.
The cancer she had battled and beaten nine years earlier had returned to her breast, and she was going to have to fight the scourge again.
“I’ve actually been one of the lucky people that found it really early twice,” the Kinross resident said. “I was always under the understanding that after five years, you were pretty clear but they just said there must be something that is a little bit more susceptible there.”
By the time she finished treatment and received an all-clear, Adam was again back in Perth, but this time to stay.
Adam is soccer professional Adam Taggart, the former ECU Joondalup youth player who has recently returned home to play with Perth Glory, the team he followed with a passion as a child and the club that gave him his professional start.
At 23, the local lad is considered one of the country’s top young strikers and has already notched seven games and three goals for the Socceroos, as well as winning the A-League Golden Boot award in 2013-14.
He was most recently with English Championship side Fulham, but his opportunity in England was cruelled by injury and ended after a seven-game stint on loan to Scottish Premiership side Dundee United.
Mrs Taggart is back working at Currambine Primary School, the local school her son attended as a youngster.
She said early detection had been crucial in both of her diagnoses and while cancer was seemingly “just part of life” for everyone in some way, she was especially pleased all of her three children had been close when she received last year’s news.
“In a way it was so nice having Adam home, I would hate to have to ring someone up with that news,” she said.
Motivated by his mum’s story, Taggart will join other Perth Glory men and women players in the city today ( Friday June 17) to help raise money and awareness for Purple Bra Day.
“It’s great everyone is happy to do the things that mean something serious, like supporting Purple Bra Day,” Taggart said.
The purple bra has become synonymous with providing support in the fight against breast cancer and Purple Bra Day is now Breast Cancer Care WA’s biggest annual fundraiser.
This story has been brought to you by Community News Editor-in-Chief Matt Zis.
