QEH rallies around Newman family as mum and nurse Laura fights leukaemia

It’s the fight of their lives – a new baby, leukaemia, and Covid – but this Adelaide family has been blown away by support from friends and strangers alike.

Emergency nurses Laura and Stephen Newman have spent years looking after patients at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital – now their colleagues are showing them the same care as they face the fight of their lives.

Laura, 34, was 31 weeks pregnant with the couple’s third child when she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of acute myeloid leukaemia last October.

They welcomed baby Isla days later and Laura has since spent weeks in hospital, undergoing intensive chemotherapy, with husband Stephen by her side.

“This has felt like a nightmare we are now about six months overdue to wake up from,” Stephen said.

“We get some good news and we’re super optimistic … and then you get the bad news and you become very pessimistic. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster.”

QEH emergency nurses Laura and Steve Newman with their kids Liam, 5, Mae, 2 and Isla, six months. Pic: Supplied.

To help ease their financial burden, their colleagues in the QEH emergency department have rallied behind the couple, starting a GoFundMe account with the goal of raising $100,000.

Some of SA’s leading chefs – including Africola’s Duncan Welgemoed, Magill Estate’s Scott Huggins and Salopian Inn’s Karena Armstrong – have also joined the cause, donating dinner vouchers that will be raffled off to raise further funds.

“It’s been incredible. We’ve been blown away by the level of support we’ve received from family, friends, school, work colleagues and now even people we’ve never met,” said Stephen. “It’s totally unexpected and we are very, very grateful.”

Ursula Raerino, a fellow QEH emergency nurse, said the department was moved by the couple’s heartbreaking situation.

“They are honestly a beautiful family. Genuinely good people,” she said.

“We knew that this road was not going to be an easy one emotionally as well as financially.

“Our entire department felt deeply saddened when we heard the news of her diagnosis and we wanted to do something for them to try and help them in whatever way we could.”

After relapsing in January, Laura is undergoing a stem-cell transplant, while Stephen recovers from Covid at home with their children, Liam, 5, Mae, 2 and Isla, six months.

“She’s loves being a mum and she’s having a really tough time being away from her kids,” he said. “She’s an extremely kind person, an amazing mother and an amazing wife.”

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