HAZEL CHURCH
Hazel
10 May 1948 - 14 September 1998

1994

Video of Hazel Playing Tennis, December 1994

There is a two-minute video clip of Hazel playing tennis, her favourite sport. This was taken at Barrington House, a guest house on the edge of the subtropical rainforest in the upper Hunter Valley, about four hours north of Sydney. It has since burnt down.

When it was taken, in December 1994, Hazel's breast cancer had already been diagnosed: she'd had a mastectomy in April, followed by radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and hormone therapy.

The positive diagnosis of the metastatic cancer was still seven months away, so we lived in hope that the cancer had been banished from her body.

You will first see Zoë playing with her friend, Rachel Kalman, with Rachel's dad, John, talking off-camera. Then I pan to the tennis court, where Hazel is knocking balls around with Ruth Pojer, another old friend. Then there is a dispute between the girls ...


Zoë's Fourth Birthday Party, December 1994

Hazel's breast cancer was first diagnosed in April, 1994. After treatment, we hoped she was cured when Zoë's birthday party rolled around at the beginning of December.

Hazel
Hazel before the birthday party.
Last Updated 1 September 2018