AGONY OVER BABY LOSS
Cancer scare sends Franks under knife
excruciating. I feel as if my chest is going to burst as I mourn the loss of children I can no longer bear.”
EMBARGOED 7:30PM, Thursday 6TH MAY EXCLUSIVE NETWORK NEWS
CELEBRITY fashion designer The kaftan queen, whose
PREMIUM LOCKED CONTENT NO NEWS.COM, NO SKY, NO WEST AUS, Camilla Franks is colourful designs are worn
NO AUS Celebrity fashion designer Camilla Franks has revealed she is
mourning the loss of children by Beyoncé, Oprah, Jennifer
recovering from a life-saving hysterectomy that will protect the new she longs for but can no Lopez, Kate Hudson and
mum from ovarian cancer.
longer bear. supermodel Miranda Kerr
On the eve of Mother’s had already had both breasts Day, the 45-year-old has removed after she was diagnosed opened up about the “hideous with breast cancer in journey” of breast 2018 when her daughter was cancer that “never ends”. eight weeks old.
Franks, who is blessed to She carries the same be mother to three-year-old BRCA1 “cancer gene” that daughter Luna, is recovering forced Hollywood star Angelina from life-saving surgery to Jolie to undergo surgery. remove her ovaries to protect “I underwent a double herself from new cancers. mastectomy, saying goodbye
“Tonight I’m hugging to my breasts which had Luna’s teddy, which she only just been nourishing gave me as I left her for surgery. my beautiful newborn,” It’s my comfort in a sea Franks said. of sadness and I’m clinging “Next went my fallopian
to it like a life raft, breathing in her smell, feeling her presence and warmth. It’s little furry body is soaked with a torrent of tears that I can’t seem to stop,” she said.
“I lie here with a broken heart as I recover from surgery to finally remove my ovaries. The grief and pain is tubes. But now, this ... my ovaries, the most sacred givers of life, being taken from me, leaves the biggest hole of all.”
Franks has penned an open letter as an ambassador for the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF), continuing her work helping to raise awareness and fund research in the hope of finding a cure to “wipe this bloody breast cancer off the face of the earth”.
She had put off removing her ovaries as she attempted to fall pregnant through IVF, wanting a “brood of bubbas”.
“I’ve spent the past 18 months in pursuit of the dream of becoming a mother again,” she said.
“I kept putting this final lifesaving surgery off in the hope that I could pull off a miracle. But five unsuccessful rounds of IVF later, with all the hope and disappointment they brought, has delivered me to this point.
“Now must accept that I will have one biological child.”
Franks’ artist partner JP Jones is based in Wales with the couple separated for much of the past 18 months due to the global pandemic.
She will spend Mother’s Day in Sydney with Luna.
“With Mother’s Day this Sunday, I am reminded just how much being a mother is a gift,” she said.
“There will always be an undertone of grief and sadness but I will thrive again. I will laugh. I will feel joy. Because that is who I am.”