[2] She had surgery to remove the lump and was later induced, giving birth to son Cooper on 5 September 2007 (6 weeks premature).

Cooper spent several weeks in a neonatal ward, undergoing steroid treatment, to aid the growth of his lungs.

[7] McCann had an early interest in athletics, winning the New South Wales primary school cross country championship in 1979.

However, McCann gave up competitive athletics until taking it up again near the end of high school, running her first marathon at the age of seventeen.

[1] At the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, McCann placed tenth in the marathon, and at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States, she finished 28th.

McCann's best result in international competition came later in 2002 at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, United Kingdom, where she won gold ahead of fellow Australians, Krishna Stanton and Jackie Gallagher.