Warrnambool's Katie Monigatti supports Mother's Day Classic

"My mum and grandmother both had bouts with cancer so I knew it was inevitable that one day it could hit me," Mrs Monigatti said. "I just didn't think I'd be 39-years-old with a three-year-old and a four-month-old."

She said in her "heart of hearts" she believed she would eventually get it but didn't expect it to be so soon.

"For me and my journey I knew eventually in my life I'd get it just because of the familial history even though there's no genetic linkage. It probably wasn't a big shock when I got it because I thought 'here it is'."

Mrs Monigatti was diagnosed with Triple Negative breast cancer in November 2020 and has successfully undergone treatment.

She is this year's Warrnambool Mother's Day Classic ambassador and has re-joined the organising committee after an earlier role a decade ago. The fun run/walk is on Sunday, May 14 and begins at the Pertobe Road carnival site.

Mrs Monigatti has been an "open book" sharing her story to empower others to do the same if they chose to and to realise they're not alone.

She documented her chemotherapy, radiation and surgery experience on a dedicated Instagram account to help people understand what was involved.

"I just wanted to open up," she said. "Because I was classed as younger a lot of people my age haven't gone through it or the ones who had didn't talk about it, I wanted people to see the scars and all if they opted into it. I bare my soul, good and bad. I wanted to say 'this is actually the sides of breast cancer', especially those people may not want to show."

She said everyone's cancer journey was so different and wasn't easy, regardless of their age or life stage.

"The first thing they asked me was if my family was complete and I was like 'oh I hadn't thought about that' but fortunately we were because I was nearly 40," she said.

Mrs Monigatti's husband Kelvin and daughters Adeline, 5, and Eloise, 2, will join her in the walk where she will also talk about how funds raised at the event would go towards research to help future generations.

"I don't think we'll ever be cancer-free but we'll be able to reduce the numbers," she said.

"That's where research is really important, for treatments and what can be brought to Australia that are working well in other countries."

It's on Sunday at 9am for the 7km run and 9.05am for the 3km walk. People can enter online at mothersdayclassic.com.au/vic-warrnambool or on-the-day from 8am.

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