Canberran Belinda Lee-Makrides was 33 when she discovered a suspicious lump in her breast. Screening found it wasn’t cancer, but there was a problem, reports ELIZABETH KOVACS.

“They found something wrong with my blood,” says Belinda Lee-Makrides. 

“It’s crazy how one minute you think you’re fine, and then the next, you’re slapped in the face with a diagnosis. 

“It can happen to anyone, and you wouldn’t even know it.”

Belinda, now 36, has a form of blood disease called Beta-Thalassemia, which means her production of hemoglobin (an iron-containing protein found in red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body) is reduced, which lowers oxygen levels in the body. 

Not wanting to stay home and mope, Belinda decided to take the Eight Epic Peaks Challenge and hike the highest peak in every state and territory across Australia to raise awareness for Bone Marrow Failure Syndrome (BMFS).

Affecting about 160 Australians each year, the syndromes are a collection of medical conditions where the bone marrow that produces stem cells struggle to make enough healthy red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets to meet the body’s requirements. 

Bone marrow failure syndrome has a 50 per cent survival rate. 

“I wanted to prove that I was more than my diagnosis,” says Belinda. 

“So I used it as a chance to advocate for the only charity in Australia that raises awareness for bone marrow failure.” 

Taking a year to complete, Belinda’s journey has seen her to reach the top of Kosciuszko to the snow-capped peak of Mount Ossa.

“I think it’s taught me more about myself than anything,” she says. 

Travelling across Australia with her family, Belinda says that her decision to do the peak challenge couldn’t have come at a better time. 

“We’ve always said we would travel around Australia, although it probably would’ve been later in life had this not intervened,” she says. 

Perhaps one of the more special parts of her challenge was doing almost every hike with her 10-year-old daughter. 

“We are both quite stubborn and she’s really into her sports,” Belinda says. 

“I always gave myself two days to get to the top of each peak. 

“The first day, I’d do it with my daughter, knowing that we might have to go down halfway and I’d do it the next day.

“Hiking isn’t a glamorous activity, we dealt with leaches, tics and lots of sweat. 

“But that didn’t seem to phase her and we were both brushing leaches off of ourselves together.” 

Regularly updating her story on the charity’s website, Belinda says it wasn’t all smiles. 

“There were certainly times when I just wanted to give up and it was hard to convince myself to take things one step at a time.” 

Such as being halfway up Mount Kosciuszko. 

“It was poor weather and I thought to myself, if I can’t even do this, how am I going to do everything else?” 

Travelling through some of the most “hard-off” rural towns across Australia, Belinda says it was a welcome reality check. 

Finding tranquility in the act of unplugging from her day-to-day life, Belinda says it’s almost like chasing a high. 

“Being on top of a mountain is where I feel the calmest,” she says. 

“Some days, all I want to do is go out and hike.”

Finishing her epic peak challenge in March, Belinda says it won’t be the end of her summit-climbing adventures.

This adventure isn’t the first time Belinda has turned to mountain climbing and hikes to advocate and raise awareness for diseases. 

The Eight Epic Peaks challenge wasn’t Belinda’s first mountain-climbing quest. She has taken part in a challenge to climb 50 out of the 145 named mountains in Canberra to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer. 

She has now successfully climbed 112 out of the 145. 

Belinda has travelled 23,819 kilometres and says she’s the first person to do all eight summits with a blood disease. 

Donate to the Bone Marrow Failure Syndrome charity, Maddie Riewoldt’s Vision, at fundraising.mrv.org.au