Shock Diagnosis New Mum's Breast Cancer Battle

Talia wept sad tears the last time she was allowed to breastfeed son Navy

As first-time mum Talia Cooper sat breastfeeding her baby son Navy, she took in the precious view of his small head against her chest, holding his warm body close to hers.

With tears streaming down her cheeks, she whispered that it was their final feed. She was sorry. There was nothing she wanted more than to continue the sweet mothering ritual that bonded them so tightly. But now, she had to beat cancer.

“After that last feed, I left Navy downstairs safe, warm and innocent – and it was the first time I really felt like a mother, like a lioness,” recalls Talia, 30, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in June.

“I had to go through all this trauma and loss so I could be there for him.”

The new mum first noticed a lump on her right breast six months into her pregnancy. But because she was young and healthy, Talia shrugged it off, assuming her body was changing with the hormones. She focused on becoming a parent with her husband Jesse, 30, a music producer and videographer.

“I went into motherhood not really wanting too many things,” shares Talia, who met her Niuean hubby 14 years ago through high-school friends. “I wanted Navy to be passed around so he gets used to lots of people and to breastfeed exclusively for six months.”

But when her bub was 10 weeks old, the Aucklander was told she had breast cancer. She needed six rounds of chemotherapy, followed by a mastectomy. She and Jesse would also have to start an emergency round of IVF since Talia could become infertile and their young family wasn’t complete.

Devastatingly, Talia had to stop breastfeeding. She was given one night to prepare.

She admits, “The most traumatic part of all of this isn’t actually my diagnosis. It’s not being able to breastfeed and I have a lot of grief around that being taken away from me.”