For Adelaide papercraft expert Natalie May, a love of scrapbooking has grown into something far bigger than just a creative outlet.
After surviving ovarian cancer at 37, the Adelaide mum has spent the past 12 years using her craft workshops, business and nationwide following to encourage women to listen to their bodies and speak up about the symptoms of the disease.
Natalie first discovered her passion for papercraft more than 20 years ago when she began working at a scrapbooking shop in Adelaide.
She quickly became one of Australia’s leading scrapbooking experts, travelling around the country as a guest teacher and running workshops for women. But in 2013, everything changed.
At 37, Natalie noticed changes to her menstrual cycle and visited her GP, who referred her for further testing. As a fit and healthy mum, cancer was the last thing on her mind.
Doctors discovered a large ovarian cyst that required immediate surgery, but when the pathology results came back, Natalie received news she never expected.
“Our world just stopped,” shared Natalie. “I think I spent the rest of the appointment in a daze, waiting for the Dr to say “but it’s all going to be OK” or “just kidding”… but he never did. I had ovarian cancer.”
Natalie underwent a radical abdominal hysterectomy and appendectomy before enduring six months of chemotherapy.
Her family, friends and the crafting community helped her through the difficult period, and once treatment finished, she returned to teaching, work and the creative community she loved.
One customer and her craft group even donated $500 to the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation in Natalie’s name.
In late 2019, Natalie launched an online papercraft store alongside her teaching and craft fairs. When the pandemic forced much of her work online, her husband built her a purpose-built studio at home, where she began running online workshops and teaching classes in the back garden.
The business went from making around $20,000 to just shy of $1 million in revenue in five years, and when Natalie eventually outgrew her home studio, she opened a bricks-and-mortar store in Adelaide’s CBD, becoming what she says is the only physical retail scrapbooking store left in South Australia.
While the business was growing, Natalie was also finding a new purpose for her platform. She began using her workshops to speak openly about ovarian cancer, sharing her own story and encouraging women to pay attention to changes in their bodies.
“When I run my workshops, I take the opportunity to talk about ovarian cancer, my journey, the symptoms and signs to look for, all while women are busy crafting,” she said. “I have an audience of women around Australia who have daughters, grand-daughters, sisters, aunties, so a key part of my tutorials is raising awareness for ovarian cancer.”
Natalie says she has received numerous messages from women who contacted their GPs to investigate symptoms after hearing her speak about ovarian cancer.
She also works with research teams at Flinders University and Adelaide University as a consumer advocate and has spoken at events about her experience.
“Cancer doesn’t just happen to you; it happens to your whole family, your community, your business,” said Natalie. “Women tend to put themselves aside and focus on everyone else. I really want to use my voice, my workshops, my scrapbooking retreats to warn women- don’t ignore the symptoms. I was so lucky that I listened to my body and I caught the cancer at stage 1, but that is extremely rare. Most women are diagnosed at stage 4, and it’s too late.”
Natalie has also combined fundraising into her business, offering an $8 donation option at checkout to support ovarian cancer research. Over the past 12 years, she has donated more than $30,000 through her fundraising efforts.
“I’m very proud of that. Something good had to come out of my experience, so I will spend all my days being an ambassador and trying to save other women.”
Around 1,900 Australians are diagnosed with ovarian cancer every year, with approximately 1,064 lives lost to the disease annually.
There is currently no early detection screening test for ovarian cancer, and a Pap or cervical screening test does not detect ovarian cancer.
For Natalie, however, sharing her experience is one way to make sure more women know the importance of recognising changes and seeking medical advice.
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