This TED Talk features lawyer Sarah Donnelly recorded live at TED at Westpac, 2017.

It was June 2014. I was 30 years old, and I received a call from my doctor's office to say my test results were in.

So I walked up to see her in my lunch break,

and my doctor said she was very sorry to tell me that I had breast cancer. I didn't want to

believe her, and at first, I didn't. You see, I'm a lawyer, and I needed some evidence.

So I'm very embarrassed to tell you all

that I stood up and I walked around to where she was sitting

so that I could look over her shoulder and verify

what was written on the page in front of her.

Malignant carcinoma.

But still not wanting to believe it, I said,

now, malignant carcinoma, you're sure that means cancer.

She told me she was sure.

Back at work, I handed over the urgent things that needed to be done while I was having more tests to see if my cancer had spread.

But at that moment, work wasn't my priority.

I was thinking about how I was going to tell my family and friends that I had cancer.

How I was going to answer their questions about how bad it was

and whether I was going to be okay when I didn't know that myself.

I was wondering if my partner and I would ever have an opportunity to start a family.

And I was figuring out how I was going to tell my mother,

who had herself had breast cancer when she was pregnant with me.

She would know how I was feeling and have an idea of what lay ahead for me,

...