"Dad had an attitude that things happen - that you get on and do things - get on with it," Ms Sommerville said.
She saw her father fighting his terminal illness - and for her to fight for just six minutes was additional time he never got.
She has also lost an aunt and two uncles to cancer and her father's best mate also died from the disease.
"Cancer is a thing you get that if it is terminal there is not a lot you can do but I saw these people face it so bravely."
It is the memories of those courageous fights which now keep the nerves under control over what she is planning to do - as she wants to give something back to Hospice Waikato which did so much for her father.
Ms Sommerville, who had been living in Auckland, moved to Hawke's Bay in February and took up her accountancy job a month later.
She said she was fit, and getting fitter for the stoush with the former Silver Ferns goal shoot.
"I've always been pretty fit and I am gathering a good team around me."
The skills of boxing, the strategies of how to approach each round and the levels of fitness needed to take on an opponent much taller and with much greater reach would all come in time.
Ms Sommerville weighs in at 74kg and is 1.77m tall, while Ms van Dyk is 1.9m tall.
"I was a netball player at high school, which was a good few years ago, and anyone who says it is not a contact sport is way off."
She said her mother was proud of what she was setting out to do although was "a little worried about it. But she will be there."
So too will her sister, and at her table will be the son of her dad's best friend who was a boxing fan.
"The last week has been incredible," she said of the response sparked by her announcement to take to the ring for "such an important cause".
"I've had a lot of calls of support - it has been amazing."
So, depending on how it all goes, could it one day lead to a professional boxing career?
"Ask me in 64 days," she laughed.
