Who loves you for the longest? Not in the dramatic, fireworks way but in the quiet “did you book your scan?” way. In this episode, we sit with Miss Universe Australia Lexie Brandt and her mum, Penny, in the kind of conversation that usually happens in hospital corridors or parked cars outside imaging clinics

Lexie was 11 when Penny was diagnosed with high grade breast cancer on the same day Lexie started Year 6 and became a school captain. It’s the age when you’re meant to be stress crying about friendships and braces, not mammograms and mortality. Overnight, the roles between mother and daughter shifted: Penny became “the patient,” but she was still quietly choreographing everyone else’s feelings, telling Lexie, “This is sad, but we’re getting it fixed,” and turning terror into a family action plan.

Tiffany Dunk Deputy Editor of The Australian Women's Weekly asks Penny and Lexie to take us through the journey, the GP visit Penny almost said no to, the waiting room that slowly emptied until there were only two women left, the phone call where Lexie half remembers 'something different was happening" and remembers asking for an ice block because kids still want snacks even when the adults are falling apart. They talk about how you tell an 11 year old you have cancer without breaking her, how you parent when you’re the one who can’t get out of bed, and what it means for a daughter to grow up with the C‑word as a constant, invisible third in the room.

Moments You'll Hear: 

How a routine 41st‑birthday check up one Penny initially tried to decline caught her breast cancer early and probably saved her life.

Lexie’s memory of “the day Mum told me,” and how Penny’s language of action over despair became the moral she now lives by.

The messy logistics of illness:  families, step siblings, proud partners who relish accepting a lasagne drop off, and the invisible admin women shoulder while they’re meant to be “resting.”

What helped most: bringing “home” into hospital rooms with photos and soft pyjamas, letting friends drive the school run, and allowing themselves to accept help instead of performing strength

The way cancer rearranged their bond but didn’t define it Lexie still sending outfit pics for approval, Penny still being the person everyone else orbits, and both of them now using their story to push other women towards early checks and being part of the strong community and event The  Mother’s Day Classic.

If you’ve ever been the child trying to stay brave for a sick parent, or the parent editing your own fear so your kid can sleep, this one will feel uncomfortably, tenderly familiar

Thank you for listening ❤️ 

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Lexie and Penny and The Mothers Day Classic 

Credits: 

Edited by Phoebe Zukowski -Wallace 

Production by Thomas Crnkovic  

Our wonderful Australian Women’s Weekly team  

Learn More: Womens Weekly Website