Having fought – and beaten – cancer, Adelaide businesswoman Anna Roussos is driven to make the most out of the time she has, because she is grateful for every day – every hour – she gets. She knows, more than most, that time isn’t guaranteed.

Words Zoe Rice | Photographs Naomi Jellicoe

As Anna Roussos sits down in an Adelaide cafe to tell her story – one of courage, fierce determination and, above all, love – tears well in her eyes frequently.

But these aren’t tears of sadness, they’re the tears of someone who knows what the word “grateful” truly means.

The businesswoman apologises for her unstyled hair – pulled up in a claw clip – it’s the time-saver she’s made today to ensure the rest of the day goes smoothly.

As with most days, it’s a 4.30am alarm that kicks things off. Then the gym. Then making school lunches for her two boys, Ollie, 14, and Sebastian, nine. Meetings with clients at the business she founded, Roussos Recruitment. Today, there’s also coffee with SALIFE. Next will come running the boys to sport. And maybe she’ll catch the tail end of Survivor before collapsing into bed at 9.30pm.

Anna is one of those people who makes you wonder whether she has the same 24 hours in a day that you do. But, she beams: “I love it”.

There is something in this remarkable woman that drives her to get the most out of the time she has, because she is grateful for every day – every hour – she gets. She knows, more than most, that time isn’t guaranteed.

It was January 12, 2016 when then-33-year-old Anna was diagnosed with leukaemia.

Earlier that day, Anna had gone to the doctor about a pimple on her nose that was akin to a cold sore. It wasn’t healing and she felt as though something was wrong.

Given Anna was 22 weeks pregnant with her third child, the doctor took bloods to be sure of what they were dealing with. At 1pm, Anna got the phone call. She had leukaemia.

“Time stopped after that phone call,” she recalls. “It was strange – I felt like I became numb, but I was very calm.”

Anna was told to go straight to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital and then Flinders Medical Centre because they had the capacity to treat leukaemia and also had a maternity ward. This was followed by a bone marrow biopsy before the results were delivered. She had level three acute myeloid leukaemia and was told that if she didn’t undergo treatment, she had six weeks to live. Doctors further explained that even with treatment, her chance of surviving the next five years was 33 per cent.

Eight years on, Anna recounts the hardest decision she had to make in order for her to be sitting here today.

“A few days later I delivered our Mila Roussos stillborn. And a few days after that, I started my chemotherapy treatment and what would be a battle for my life. There are days when I think it could’ve been different. I see stories of babies delivered at 28 weeks. She was 22. If I had six weeks left, could I have survived that six weeks to be able to give birth to her?

“But the thing is, in six weeks, they just didn’t know. My body might have been so consumed by the cancer that I wouldn’t have been strong enough to survive.”

Over the next year, Anna put a remarkable show of strength and determination into her recovery.

Anna traces that strength and determination back to her teenage years when she played tennis quite seriously, a breeding ground for her competitive streak and an introduction to strict routine and schedules.

Anna, who was born in Austria to Polish parents, admits her year-long cancer fight was never going to be easy – there were awful days and times she’d cry at night – but from day one, she resolved positivity was going to be her guiding theme.

As an example, she recalls that her haematology doctor would never smile – after all, he wasn’t delivering the best of news – but Anna changed that.

“I said to him, ‘You keep telling me it’s going to be a journey, so if we’re going to be working together for a long time, I’m going to need you to smile’ and it broke him and he smiled.

“We formed the most beautiful relationship and the last meeting I had with him, he said to me, ‘You made me look at patients differently and what I need to give them differently’.”

Whether or not the chemo worked was out of Anna’s control, but the things she could control were well and truly looked after.

She had a whiteboard in her hospital room with her personal goals written on it – things such as how much she had to eat (usually chicken soup – the Polish version from her mum and the Greek version from her husband George’s mum) and how many times a day to brush her teeth (keeping bacteria at bay was critical).

Every day, Anna would hop on the exercise bike she had brought into her room to increase her fitness and muscle conditioning. She was the one walking up and down the halls to inspire other patients in the ward to do the same.

Anna took extraordinary steps to ensure she was doing everything right, but credits the people around her for getting her through the year. Least of all, her brother Lukasz for being her bone marrow donor.

Anna brought her career skills into the hospital and literally recruited what she calls “her A-team” to be around her during her recovery.

“I chose people who were positive. I had this amazing crew that would come to me with such positive energy, even though they were surrounded by such negative things.”

Anna speaks in awe of the nurses, including one who stayed behind for a few hours after their shift ended because Anna was alone when she needed an x-ray for a foot infection.

Besides Anna, the team leader would have to be husband George. The couple met in 2011 at a networking event – George is in construction – and immediately, Anna admired his values, which were so aligned with her own.

“He’s ambitious, hard-working, respectful and he does good by others. It was an instant connection. We were just on the same page.

“Without him, I probably wouldn’t have got through. He’s a remarkable man. He’s never doubted me – through my illness and in business, never. And he’d drop anything for family.”

George did his work from the hospital for the six months that Anna was in and out of the Royal Adelaide Hospital for treatment. He was on germ control and wouldn’t let any bugs be the downfall of Anna’s recovery.

This meant a lot of time away from Sebastian and Ollie and for six months there was almost no physical contact between the boys and their mum.

Instead, they Facetimed when Anna was in hospital and they could only be around her at home when her immunity was at its highest.

“Sebby used to come up to me and just tap me lightly and go away. Or he’d give me a little kiss on the back of my bald head.”

Once the chemo was done and Anna had her bone marrow transplant, she was housebound for 100 days. Of course, she set herself all kinds of goals during this time, including running the City to Bay fun run (remarkably, she ran six of the 10 kilometres).

“Would I recommend someone who had gone through a bone marrow transplant five months earlier to do the City to Bay? Probably not. But when doctors are telling me I have to live a new normal, I wasn’t listening to that.”

As she continued rebuilding her health, Anna became active in her own life, not shying away from doing all the things she’d missed out on with her boys, and not afraid to do them looking different. “I remember going for a walk after my 100 days at home and a man said to me, ‘I like your haircut, my wife had the same one last year’.

“That’s what it’s all about. One of the key things the journey taught me is to be vulnerable and not be afraid to let people know your fears.

“In a strange way, I’m really grateful for what happened, and it’s really strange to say that because I lost my daughter, but she came to me for a different reason.

“I do believe I was never meant to have Mila. She saved my life and I always see her as this angel and I feel very connected to her. I wouldn’t live the life I do now without this happening to me.” After Anna recovered, she returned to her work as a recruitment manager. But only for two weeks. She realised that there had been such a deep shift in her over her cancer fight and she was ready for something new. Wanting to align her values more strongly with her work life, she started Roussos Recruitment in 2017.

Today, the business works with construction, property engineering and architecture companies in South Australia (as well as some interstate and internationally).

“I’m so lucky. I love my job and I want to grow it locally and I want to be able to give back to more charities.”

Anna now sits on the board of the Jodi Lee Foundation, which supports people with bowel cancer.

“I didn’t have bowel cancer, but it’s about wellness and exercise, healthy eating and mindset – making sure you do the things you love.”

When she was starting out in recruitment in 2002, Anna admits it was all about chasing a job title. Yes, she loved helping people and knew that would be part of her career, but that senior managerial role was the goal.

Going through everything she did, Anna has become cemented in the idea that success looks different to everyone.

“If being a mum to your children makes you feel happy and fulfilled, that’s success.

“If being a manager of a business fills up your tank, that’s your success.”

Anna is living her own version of success. She’s found some semblance of balance between family, her own wellness and a career she loves.

Family time consists of Sunday run day, perhaps a park run on a Saturday and comparatively lazy days at the Aldinga beach shack.

Then, there’s footy. The boys have started playing and last year, Anna became a Collingwood fan.

“I love football now. What I’ve observed is that the players are all so supportive of each other; I love the encouragement they give each other. It’s made me think about how I can create my business to feel like a football team.”

Anna still experiences fear around her cancer returning and when she does, she goes to the gym to feel strong. With that fear, there’s still the lingering question – why me?

“You do go through that all the time. Why did I have it? What did I do to deserve it? I think I’m a good person. I just didn’t want my kids to have no mum.

“But I look at it now and I’m a better person – I give back more than I used to and I never, ever want to take anything for granted. I’m grateful for what we’ve achieved and it comes from a vigour and a love for life.”

 

 

This article first appeared in the April 2024 issue of SALIFE magazine.