Aussie mum’s brave battle
Aussie Amy Savage had twins, lost her partner to suicide, then got cancer – all within 18 months
Just weeks after giving birth to her beautiful twin boys, Amy Savage faced crippling grief at the sudden loss of her partner Dwayne, who took his own life aged 37. But despite her despair, Amy had to stay strong – her tiny boys Cash and Cruz needed their mum. “Losing Dwayne was obviously devastating,” Amy says. “I thought I mustn’t have been good enough for him – to keep him from taking his own life. “Now I realise it was his depression – I look at these two beautiful boys and think ‘if these guys weren’t enough to keep you here, nothing was’. ”
Then, a year later – just as the fog of grief was lifting and the young Adelaide family were settling into a normal existence – the courageous 26-year-old found herself in the fight of her life.
FIGHTING SPIRIT
She’d been told by doctors she had one of the most aggressive forms of cancer known, acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), with possibly only weeks to live.
“It’s obviously not ideal, but I will fight and win this – I have to for my boys,” Amy says from her home in Ridgehaven, in Adelaide’s north-east.
“I was very angry at first – not for me, but for my sons. I thought what a horrible start to life for these two beautiful, innocent boys. First they’ve had their father taken away, and now there’s a possibility their mother could die as well.”
A few months on from her shock diagnosis, Amy’s cancer is responding well to the high-dosage chemotherapy she is receiving, but the rest of her body isn’t – with doctors deciding last week to reduce her level of treatment.
The next six months are a crucial period for the young mum, as she confronts her own mortality head-on.
“The reality is people die all the time from all sorts of things. But at least with cancer I have a chance to fight this and be here for the boys,” Amy says of the road ahead.
Diagnosed with AML in April after several weeks of feeling lethargic and bruising easily, Amy says she put her symptoms down to being a first-time mum to two active little boys.
Then the nosebleeds began, followed by a purple rash covering her entire body.
TIME TO RALLY
Hours after an appointment with the family doctor and subsequent blood tests, Amy was rushed to hospital and confronting the biggest challenge of her young life. She spent the next four weeks having chemotherapy, and has since had four further rounds of treatment. Being in hospital and away from her 20-month-old boys for the greater part of the past few months has been agonising for Amy, especially as her twins were unable to visit at first because she was so gravely ill. Fortunately, her mother Heidi – a school teacher from Darwin – has taken indefinite leave from her work and moved in with Amy to provide support. “Regardless of my condition, it’s been really important for the boys to have as much of a normal routine as possible,” says Amy. “Mum’s been great – the boys absolutely adore her and it’s also given them all a chance to bond. But being in hospital for so long was incredibly tough and very traumatic for me.
“Since Dwayne died, I’ve been their only parent – it’s been just me and my boys for so long – that was the team. With everything I’ve been through, that has been the toughest by far.”
Amy’s face lights up whenever she talks about Cash and Cruz. She says they’re incredibly
close brothers and she hopes they’ll remain so in the future – whatever her long-term prognosis.
“I’m just so grateful I had twins, because they will always have each other. Regardless of what happens in the future – they always will,” she says bravely.
“If I had to go through all this horrible stuff again to have these two beautiful kids, I would do it in a heartbeat.”
‘What a horrible start to life for these two beautiful boys’
A Go Fund Me page set up to help with Amy’s bills has raised more than $17,000, of a $25,000 goal. To donate, head to gofundme.com/widowedmother-of-2-battles-cancer
If you are distressed by issues raised in this story, call Lifeline (13 11 14) or Beyond Blue (1300 22 4636).