Leopold’s Isla Foy is an ambassador and participant during this year’s Mother’s Day Classic in Geelong. Jena Carr speaks with the mother of two about her experience of being diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer while pregnant with her youngest son.
Cancer does not discriminate, not even during a pregnancy, which is a situation Leopold’s Isla Foy knows all too well.
The now 36-year-old noticed something was wrong about two years ago when she felt a mosquito bite-like pain on her chest during her 26th week of pregnancy.
“As the weeks went on, it started to get a bit more painful and eventually, I was in a lot of pain and my left breast was quite inflamed,” she said.
“It was very red, my nipple had started changing colour, and it was rock hard, so it was not doing well at all.”
Following an appointment with her general practitioner, Isla was referred to a breast screening clinic. Up until noon on August 10, 2023, Isla was under the assumption that she just had a “really bad infection”.
“It was a day I will never forget. I thought I was going in for a twenty-minute scan to confirm an infection or mastitis (inflammation of breast tissue). I was so wrong,” she said.
“When we went to the ultrasound room, the tech was scanning my breasts. She had a good look at the left breast, and the whole screen was just white. So, I was like, ‘Okay, that doesn’t look good’.
“They took me through to another room where they did a mammogram (x-ray of breast tissue) and told me to go back to the room I was in.
“The doctor came in and said, ‘We think you’ve got cancer. It’s very aggressive and you need to get this treated as soon as possible’. The other words; you don’t really hear them as you are just in shock.”
Five days later, Isla received the official diagnosis of triple positive stage three invasive ductal breast cancer.
“While my family and I took a few days to digest the news, I realised quite quickly I wanted to fight this disease head on,” she said.
“Because I was pregnant, doctors didn’t know where else the cancer may have gone, so we had to treat it like it had gone elsewhere.
“Although pregnancy and cancer are rare, it does happen, and thankfully, there’s been enough research behind it to say that the chemicals (from the treatments) themselves don’t reach through the placenta.
“I wanted to wait until I’ve birthed my baby to start treatments, but my doctor did not want me to wait. So, that was a key indicator that, if we did wait, I might not have been here today.”
Isla began chemotherapy treatments on Wednesday, August 23, 2023. Two days later, she went into early labour and gave birth to her youngest son, Freddie, on the following Monday.
“Once we knew we were having Freddie, we decided the word ‘cancer’ would not be mentioned so we could focus on a positive birth experience,” she said.
“It was an amazing day under the circumstances. My husband was in the room and my mum was also invited to be there with me, which was really nice.
“It was a really beautiful experience, but reality quickly came swinging back in when the day after Father’s Day (September 3, 2023), I started losing my hair and that’s when I was like, ‘oh, I’ve got cancer’.”
Isla continued with her second round of chemotherapy two weeks after Freddie was born and has gone through 16 rounds since her diagnosis.
“It was my third or fourth round of treatment when I was at a really low point where I didn’t have energy. It was even difficult to hold my newborn,” she said.
“He felt really heavy even though he was only three kilos. I felt horrible and that I was doing a terrible job as a mother, but my husband told me that even talking to and touching him made a big difference.”
Isla had her last targeted treatment on October 8, 2024, following a single mastectomy (surgical removal of a breast), an axillary clearance (surgical removal of lymph nodes) and completing 15 rounds of radiation.
“Positivity does get you a long way through cancer and it is important to deal with every step of the journey one step at a time,” she said.
“I had connected with a lady on social media who was the same age as me, pregnant with cancer, had a toddler the same age as my eldest and was expecting another one a little bit younger than Freddie.
“We would talk about our treatments and how we were all going. She ended up ringing me from where she lived in the United States, and we had a funny chat.
“I decided that I had to meet her one day. But when I hadn’t heard from her in a long time, I had a really bad feeling. I put her name in a Google search and found an ‘in memory of’ her.
“Sadly, my husband’s mother also got diagnosed with breast cancer in late 2023, and she then passed away in February 2024.
“This disease is so not fair. You are alive, but then you get things like survivor’s guilt, or you get a bit anxious when your scans come up or if there’s a pain somewhere.”
Isla said she was grateful for the love and support from her husband Trevor and two sons, three-year-old Bailey and 20-month-old Freddie.
Her youngest son was also diagnosed with a skull condition a few months after he was born called left unicoronal craniosynostosis, where a side of the skull prematurely fuses and leads to a deformed head shape.
The condition required Freddie to have major surgery on his skull, which he successfully completed last year.
“As a mother, it is terrifying when you find out your young son will require quite intensive surgery himself,” she said.
“My boys have two very different personalities, but they’re very cute, and I love them so much. I feel super lucky, and Freddie kind of hinted that I had cancer.
“If I wasn’t pregnant, I possibly wouldn’t know that I had cancer because my symptoms changed so much from pregnancy hormones. He’s my little guardian angel.”
Isla became an ambassador for the National Breast Cancer Foundation in 2024 and said she would be participating in the annual Mother’s Day Classic at Geelong’s Eastern Park on Sunday, May 11.
The 5km run and walk event is designed to bring people together to raise awareness and funds for breast and ovarian cancer research.
“I want others to know that they’re definitely not alone… and we’ve got such a great community in Geelong,” Isla said.
“This will be my first time attending the event. I feel honoured that I can attend to see it firsthand and experience the atmosphere.
“I understand not everyone wants to be open about their journeys, and that is completely fine. I share my story for the ones that don’t want to speak up… Once you’ve had cancer, you’re a changed person.”
