My Newborn Baby Helped Me Beat Cancer

Cradling her newborn son, mum Amanda’s joy was overshadowed by a terrifying diagnosis

- Brigid Auchettl

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