New mum's horror 'MY PLACENTA GAVE ME CANCER'

Just weeks after giving birth, a rare condition left Jess fighting for her life

- Kasia Jillings

In October 2022, Whangarei mother Jess Smith was overjoyed to welcome her much-longed-for-baby daughter Kaiya.

Excited to spend maternity leave bonding with her newborn, it was supposed to be one of the happiest times of her life.

But just weeks after giving birth, the beauty therapist was plagued by a constant cough and chest pain that made it hard to breastfeed Kaiya, and almost impossible to run around after her two-year-old son Myles.

"It was like a cold that just wouldn't go away, but I thought it would eventually get better," shares Jess, who sought medical attention at six weeks postpartum.

Doctors initially believed it was a pulmonary embolism - when a clot blocks the flow of blood through the lungs - as an x-ray showed shadows on her lungs.

Relieved to know what was wrong, she was sent home with medication and expected to make a full recovery.

"I was taking medicine that should have been making me better, but as time went on, I was getting worse," recalls Jess, who ended up back in hospital looking for answers in early January 2023.