text: When she was 15 weeks pregnant with her fifth child, Clare Van Santen was told she had breast cancer. 'I was pregnant with Elijah when I found out that I had breast cancer, so it was a bit scary wondering what was going to happen with the pregnancy and the other kids,' Ms Van Santen told Daily Mail Australia. After undergoing a specific chemotherapy regime which had been found to have no negative impact on unborn children, and having a mastectomy, her son was born happy and most importantly, healthy. 'He had a full head of hair when he was born, and I was bald so that made me feel better,' Ms Van Santen, who is from Perth, joked. Singe mother-of-five Clare Van Santen, 37, (back of image) is currently battling terminal breast cancer. She is pictured here with her four youngest kids Susan 17, Nikita, 14, Jack, 12, Elijah, 9, . The Perth woman was first diagnosed when she was pregnant with her fifth child, Elijah, now aged nine . When she asked her doctor after all her treatment whether she was in remission, he told her that with breast cancer, if it is contained within the breast like hers was, you are essentially cured. But ten years on, after living a life which she thought was cancer-free, the single mum-of-five has been told her cancer is now terminal. Her biggest concern going forward is for her children, whose ages range from 20 to nine years old, and how they will live without her. 'I worry about how they’re going to be and who’s going to look after them, what’s going to happen, how they’re going to cope,' Ms Van Santen said. After her initial diagnosis, the Perth woman learned in October 2013 her cancer had spread to her liver, and she also had a small amount in one of her shoulders. 'I went to have lap-band surgery and they did a scan of my liver and found some legions which ended up being cancer, little tiny bit in my shoulder too,' Ms Van Santen revealed. Ms Van Santen has a bucket list of things she wants to do with her children: Keisha, 20, Susan 17, Nikita, 14, Jack, 12, Elijah, 9, in the time she has left . She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, but it has since spread to her liver, shoulder, and brain . The 37-year-old has undergone coutnless chemotherapy and radiation treatments in the past decade . Instead of the surgery she was supposed to have, she had to endure five months of chemotherapy and hormone treatments, which successfully shrunk the spots in her liver. 'For most people a Bucket List is something that has lots of adventurous things on it... My Bucket List is for me and my kids, so they can enjoy their home environment and that we can make as many happy memories as possible while I can.' - Clare Van Santen. Some of the items on the mother-of-five's list include: . Then at the beginning of this year, Ms Van Santen began having some strange symptoms once again. 'I'd been having headaches and just forgetting things, and sometimes I'd read something and the worlds had been jumbled around. 'On February 14 I had a seizure and discovered the cancer had gone to my brain,' she revealed, saying the horrible event happened in front of three of her kids. Radiation therapy is currently trying to shrink the ten tumors spread throughout her brain, but the cancer is inoperable, and devastatingly, terminal. As for how much time Ms Van Santen has left with her children, it's impossible to know. 'They can’t say,' she said, speaking of her doctors. 'They've said a few months to a few years.' Ms Van Santen has a bucket list of things she hopes to do, see and experience with her family before her time is up, but life is much harder for her than it used to be. With the time she has left she hopes to makeover the kids' rooms so they have their own sanctuary, get a 'HUGE comfortable leather lounge for me and kids to sit on, so I can be with them', and fix up other things around the house. Ms Van Santen also wants to go on a family holiday on a cruise, have a photo-shoot with her kids, and simply 'make lots of little moments special'. She has thrown her support behind Breast Cancer Care's Buying Time campaign which aims to raise money to fund more breast cancer nurses . Ms Van Santen, pictured here with eldest daughter Keisha, is not sure how much time she has left with her kids . And perhaps the most important: 'Finding someone who will love my kids nearly as much as I do!'. But the medication she currently on makes her more exhausted than 'I've ever been in my life', and leaves her wiped out for days at a time. However the mum-of-five said her life would be even more difficult if she didn't have the support of Breast Cancer Care, WA. She has thrown her support behind the Buying Time Campaign, which aims to raise money which will go towards funding more breast cancer nurses and support services. 'I've rung them crying so many times,' Ms Van Santen revealed. 'Their support is so, so amazing.' When a patient first receives their diagnosis and calls the care centre, they are allocated a nurse who helps them through their entire journey. The nurses make house calls, ring and check up on them, send counsellors out to get people through tough times and help patients get connected with support groups. She hopes to take her family on a holiday together, and get a photoshoot with everyone soon . Ms Van Santen also hopes to raise awareness about the mortality rates of women with breast cancer . 'They help with everything, if you need some financial help, or you need legal help, if you need a lift...' Ms Van Santen said. '(And) it’s good to be able to speak to other people going through the same thing,' she added, speaking of the help she received through her Stage 4 support group. Through her involvement in this campaign, Ms Van Santen also wants to help raise awareness about the mortality rates of women who suffer from breast cancer. She has questioned why she is classified as a 'survivor' because she has lived for more than five years after her diagnosis, but will still eventually succumb to the disease. Ms Van Santen said she would like to see more research done on Stage 4, or terminal, breast cancer because even though hers was detected early, it will still eventually take her life. 'So much money goes into awareness for breast cancer, but no money goes into actually researching Stage 4 cancer,' she said, adding that as it's the one that takes lives there should be more known about it. Ms Van Santen hopes in the future there can be more awareness about the mortality rates of the disease, and that people know that even if detected early, that breast cancer can still kill. 'It’s important for so many people, you know, my kids, people's families', she said. You can support the Buying Time campaign here, donate to help Clare Van Santen tick things off her bucket list here, or keep up with her journey here.
target: Clare Van Santen, 37, has Stage 4 breast cancer, which means it's terminal .
  Single mum-of-five was first diagnosed in 2005 while pregnant with her son .
  She underwent chemotherapy and a mastectomy to fight the cancer .
  Then in October 2013 she learned it had spread to her liver and shoulder .
  Discovered she had tumors in her brain after a seizure in February 2015 .
  Now she has thrown her support behind the Buying Time Campaign .
  It urges people to donate to fund more breast care nurses and services .