Real Life

New mum’s heartbreak: I have to beat this cancer

Brave Fiona’s battling on for her beloved boy

To smitten new mum Fiona Cullen, her tiny blue-eyed baby Morgan is simply “a gift”.

“He is my reason for living – I want to teach him and watch him grow up,” says the 39-year-old Ashburton resident, cradling her newborn son and kissing his head of chestnut hair.

As a single woman in her late 30s, Fiona had all but given up on becoming a mother. Then in April last year, she endured a health scare after her left nipple began bleeding. “It wasn’t cancer, but it was a growth that could have turned cancerous,” tells Fiona. “I was given the option to remove one milk duct or all of them as a precaution. I always wanted kids, but I thought time had passed me by, so I said, ‘Take them all out.’”

Less than a year later, Fiona discovered she was pregnant with Morgan. “Let’s just say it was a huge but lovely surprise,” she smiles.

For Fiona, who eats healthily and has stayed active playing tennis all her life, pregnancy was a breeze. But as her body nurtured new life, so too was it harbouring something infinitely more sinister.

For the previous 18 months, Fiona had been suffering with bleeding from the bowel. She had seen her GP about the problem, but despite showing some classic signs of bowel cancer, she had been turned down for a colonoscopy.

“I thought, ‘If the doctors don’t think it’s necessary, it can’t be that serious,’” recalls Fiona, who works as an information management officer for the local council. But pregnancy only made Fiona’s symptoms worse. She was losing weight and getting up at least 10 times during the night to use the toilet. “I was lucky to get an hour’s sleep at a time,” she tells.

Pushing for answers, Fiona saw a second GP but was again turned down for a colonoscopy. “The doctor said, ‘I am going to do everything I can to have you seen.’”

By then, Fiona was also under the care of an obstetrician because she was anaemic and, in June, she was finally referred to a specialist bowel surgeon. She recalls, “He examined me and said, ‘I’m 99% sure it’s a cancerous tumour.’”

A biopsy confirmed the worst. At 30 weeks pregnant, Fiona was diagnosed with bowel cancer. And further tests would also reveal cancerous spots in her lungs. “I was in shock – I’d presumed I had irritable bowel syndrome. I had been handed this amazing gift of a baby, then suddenly I was battling cancer.”

Fiona believes her symptoms weren’t taken seriously at first because of her young age and the fact that she has no family history of bowel cancer. She has since complained about her care to the Canterbury District Health Board.

“If anything good comes out of this, it should be change. Young, healthy people get bowel cancer too. If anyone, regardless of their age, is showing the classic signs, then they need to get tested.”

While Fiona took her first GP’s advice at face value, her mother Gené did not. “I was worried,” says Gené, 65. “You don’t bleed from the bowel without a good reason.”

Gené offered to pay the $3000 needed for a private colonoscopy. “I just wanted peace of mind,” she tells. “Now we finally have a diagnosis, I can’t pretend that I’m not angry.”

Fiona, though, is more pragmatic. “Yes, I should have been diagnosed 18 months earlier, but there’s a silver lining. If I had been having cancer treatment last year, I would not have been able to have Morgan.”

On the day of Fiona’s diagnosis, she also had an appointment for a routine glucose test that was a part of her pregnancy monitoring. “I got through that, went home, got the washing in and sorted the firewood, then fell on the floor for a good cry.”

Gené dropped everything for her daughter, travelling down from Whangarei to help. “That was three months ago and I haven’t been home since,” she tells. Fiona adds, “I couldn’t have done this without Mum.”

Fiona needed chemotherapy and radiation for the cancer, but she couldn’t start any treatment until the baby was born. Doctors needed to weigh up how urgently she needed medical intervention with how early Morgan could be safely delivered.

Her medical team agreed to deliver the bouncing bub at 32.5 weeks. Fiona had been given steroids in the last two weeks of her pregnancy to help speed up his lung development. “My priority was my baby,” says Fiona. “As long as he was safe, everything would be fine.”

Her son was delivered by Caesarean on June 15 and was given Gené’s maiden name Morgan. Despite the heartbreak over her own health, Fiona took one look at her precious boy and fell instantly in love.

“I thought, ‘Wow, he is mine,’” she smiles.

Morgan’s father – a friend of Fiona’s – was waiting to meet the wee chap. “Everyone was thankful he’d arrived safely,” she recalls. After four months spent in Christchurch Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, Morgan was finally strong enough to leave. Since then, he, Fiona, and Gené have stayed nearby while the new mum finishes her treatment.

“I’m not one for feeling sorry for myself,” says Fiona. “Having Morgan is great – he gives me purpose each day.” In a few weeks, Fiona will need surgery, but for now, life is about regaining her strength and spending quality time with her wee boy.

“Every time I swallow a chemotherapy tablet, I imagine it growing arms and legs, and beating up my cancer. I’m staying very positive – I have to for Morgan.”

For updates on Fiona’s battle with cancer or to donate, visit her Givealittle page here

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