My newborn baby helped me beat cancer
Cradling her newborn son, mum Amanda’s joy was overshadowed by a terrifying diagnosis
Fighting back tears while trapped in a hospital bed, mum-of-three Amanda Mancini says it was her children who gave her the strength to keep going after doctors told her they found a tumour on her cervix during her daughter Frankie’s labour.
“It felt like a nightmare and I was waiting to wake up,” says
Amanda, 33, who lives on a farm in Katamatite, Victoria, with her husband Marcus, 36, and their three kids, Sebastian, six, Talia, four, and Frankie, who is now two.
“I was worried about dying
– I wanted to see my babies grow up.”
The stay-at-home mum was looking forward to having another sibling for Sebastian and Talia, but after a high-stress pregnancy full of pelvic pain and heavy bleeds, she was happy and relieved when she went into labour with Frankie.
“I was living on Panadol to try and get to sleep,” she says.
“I remember sitting there crying to Marcus, saying I cannot wait for the baby to come because it was so painful.
“I just remember thinking everything would be fine post-pregnancy. I had no idea what was ahead of me.”
SHORT-LIVED BLISS
Suffering a major bleed five days out from her due date, the anxious mum was rushed to Northeast Health Wangaratta for an emergency C-section. With her husband by her side, she welcomed her son Frankie on January 18, 2018, weighing just 1.2kg.
“I just felt so much love holding him in my arms,” she recalls fondly.
“With each bub, it’s like your heart grows a little extra.”
But their bliss was to be short-lived – doctors found a concerning growth on Amanda’s cervix during a pelvic examination while she was in labour.
Two weeks later, a biopsy confirmed the family’s worst fears – Amanda had an aggressive stage two cervical cancer.
“I just lost it, I broke down in tears,” she says.
“For as long as I can remember I just wanted to be a mum – I wanted to be there for my kids, I didn’t want to miss their milestones.”
The brave mum began eight weeks of chemotherapy and radiation at the Mercy Hospital for Women in Victoria and the Olivia Newton-john Cancer Wellness & Research Centre.
With their family home three hours away, Amanda and the kids moved in with her parents in Melbourne, while Marcus continued to travel the six-hour round trip for work.
TOUGH TIME
Determined to put on a brave face for her family, Amanda admits the “horrendous” sessions were so painful she cried most days. She says the most difficult part of her cancer fight was the three brachytherapy sessions – a form of radiotherapy where a sealed radiation source is placed inside or next to the area requiring treatment.
‘Frankie was meant to come here, he saved my life’
“I had ringing in my ears, I couldn’t breastfeed my son and I didn’t eat because of the nausea, so I lost 15 kilos. I had no energy,” she recalls.
“Looking at photos of my kids got me through – they gave me hope and I fought for them.”
Amanda, who is now two years cancer-free, says getting the news she was in remission was like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
“I look at things differently now and I never take anything for granted,” she says.
“If I didn’t have Frankie, I dread to think what would have happened. He was meant to come here, he saved my life.”
Amanda and her family were gifted a holiday – their first – by the Cancer Council last year to the Mornington Peninsula.
Now, she helps to raise funds for cancer organisations, volunteering on Daffodil Day and participating in the fun run to raise funds for the Olivia Newton-john centre in an effort to give back to all those who helped her through her terrible ordeal.
“I try and give back as much as I can to say thank you,” she says.
“If in the future there’s no cancer it would be amazing... no family should have to go through this.”