'Glamour girl's' Mulletfest quest after breast cancer battle

Instead of cutting it off, the now 31-year-old has entered Mulletfest at Kurri Kurri's Chelmsford Hotel on February 24 and is raising money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Emma was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2023, requiring a lumpectomy in May, chemotherapy and radiation which wrapped up in December, and ongoing hormone treatment.

In an effort to save her luscious locks, she "cold-capped" her head during chemotherapy infusions, which reduces the amount of medicine that reaches the hair follicles.

But the hair that she managed to save was at the back of her head, and combined with the new growth on top, it has formed into a mullet.

"I love fashion and I always like to look good, to feel good and then going through this, it has given me a hairstyle that I never would have dreamed of having," she said.

"But I'm just embracing it and decided to put it to a good cause."

Growing up in Nulkaba on the outskirts of Cessnock, she was well aware of Mulletfest, and after joking with friends about entering, she decided she would do it if she could raise $2000.

"Within two hours of making the GoFundMe it had gone off and I was like 'this is actually happening'," Emma said.

"A day went past and I hit the goal and now it's at $6000.

"I've got my Mulletfest outfit picked - I'm vibing a bit of Sandy Dee from Grease - leopard print pants with black cat eye glasses, red lipstick, full glam makeup.

"We've even joked about maybe putting some more extensions in to juice it up a bit, but I reckon that's not being authentic to the mullet."

The cause has also helped Emma channel the toughest year of her life into something positive. Prior to her diagnosis she had never undergone surgery or been put under anaesthetic.

"It was definitely not the year that I set out to have," she said.

"When I remember back to the day that I got diagnosed and I was sitting there and they said it was cancerous, I just wasn't educated with what's involved when you do get a cancer diagnosis, especially at a young age.

"The doctor was saying to me you're going to have to go see a fertility doctor to freeze eggs if you want to have a baby and you're going to have to get genetic testing to check that it's not in your genes.

"I was oblivious to it. I just thought okay. I've got cancer. Let's get it out. Let's have treatment and I'll be sweet, but it's not like that.

"But thankfully I was in the best of hands in treatment and surgery and I had great support around me."

The hair loss was however a difficult challenge for someone who previously wore hair extensions and would get a blow dry once a week.

"I remember when I went to see my surgeon and she was the one that told me that I was going to have to have chemo," Emma said.

"I just kept saying to her: 'I don't want to lose my hair. I don't want to lose my hair'.

"I remember leaving there and I was holding it together and then I got in the car and I just lost it.

"It wasn't so much about my identity in a way of 'Emma doesn't have any hair now', it was more 'she's got no hair, she's sick'."

So Emma began to research the type of chemotherapy she was having to find out how severe the hair loss would be.

"I found out I was able to cold cap with it and there would be a chance that I would be able to save it," she said. "I was trying to think positive.

"So when it did start falling out, and it was to the exact day people told me - two weeks after the first treatment, it was rough.

"The first big loss, I jumped in the shower one night to wash my hair and that was the worst thing I could have done.

"There were just clumps after clumps after clumps and that was so confronting to stand there in the bathroom and see the sink full of my own hair."

At the end of her chemotherapy treatment, Emma had large bald spots, which have now been covered in newly grown hair.

She says the 'do will be looking "Mickey Mouse" by the time Mulletfest rolls around, but after that she's not sure what is next for her locks.

"I don't know what I'm going to do after Mulletfest whether it gets chopped off straight away or I just keep it until my hair grows out.

"I mean, it's OG hair, so I'm sort of attached to it. Maybe I will keep it and just shorten it up a bit."

She decided to raise money for the Breast Cancer Foundation as it covered the cost of massages and acupuncture while she was receiving treatment.

But also as a way to raise awareness of breast health.

"I just happened to feel mine one day and noticed a lump," she said. "It was growing aggressively.

"The tumour itself was three centimetres, but the lump was probably about a 10 cent piece.

"So check your boobies."

To donate to Emma's cause, visit gofundme.com/f/get-emdoll-to-mullet-fest.