Day my life changed: ‘They said I was too young for cancer’

Dismissed by doctors as not being old enough for cancer, Milly Mitchell heartbreakingly shares how her young son will only have ‘mummy’ in his life for a few more months.

At only 27 years old, Milly Mitchell is facing what no mother should ever have to endure, the prospect of leaving her young son behind, after her life changed when she felt a cancerous tumour on her cervix.

It was around August 2022 when I got my period for four months straight. It didn’t stop.

It was getting heavier and heavier and I went to about five different doctors.

One of them was a female GP who told that everything I was going through was completely normal for someone who has endometriosis.

She gave me a hormonal pill to stop a prolonged period.

But my period continued.

Milly Mitchell is 27 years old. She has a four year old son, George, and her partner Declan. She also has stage four, cervical cancer. Picture Dean Martin

Another doctor told me I had a kidney disease and that was the reason I was in so much pain but they couldn’t explain the bleeding.

I did ask my GP, would we consider checking for cancer and he said no, because you are too young for cancer.

One day the bleeding got worse. I was bleeding through tampons, pads, everything. I was at work, and they rushed me to the hospital.

I got told (it was) a kidney infection and I got sent home with all this medication.

One night I was laying in bed and I was getting this cramping pain in my pelvic area.

I Googled my symptoms and it said maybe I had a tampon up there still.

I went to the bathroom … I could feel something so I was trying to pull it out.

Multiple doctors were not able to discover what was wrong with Milly. Picture: Supplied

Milly with her four year old son George Legge. Picture: Supplied

The next day, my bleeding was uncontrollable. I took myself to the hospital and I said ‘my organs are falling out, I don’t know what’s wrong with me (but) you need to have a look’.

They got a gynaecologist to come down to do a pap smear. That’s when she said to me you’ve got a pretty big tumour.

She took a biopsy. Four days later we were asked to come back and that is when I was told the tumour was eight centimetres.

It was protruding and had spread already to my pelvic lymph nodes and pelvic area.

I was told I was stage three.

It was such a big shock. I was having Pap smears (regularly) and nothing (was) abnormal.

Prior to being diagnosed I was having scans because of the kidneys and nothing was showing up.

Milly with her partner Declan Legge and their son George prior to her diagnosis. Picture: Supplied

Milly always had regular Pap smears and no results came up abnormal. Picture: Supplied

My last scan was February 2023 and I was told I had cancer in July 2023 so it took five months for the tumour to grow to eight centimetres.

I had five weeks of radiation Monday to Friday.

Then every Monday I was getting chemotherapy for four hours.

The first day of chemo was the hardest for me to deal with. I didn’t lose my hair but it became very thin and dry.

I couldn’t eat. I lost so much weight because chemo makes food taste disgusting.

But I still have my responsibilities, I have my child.

He was my main motivation because if I didn’t have George I don’t think I would be motivated to keep getting up and go to my treatments.

Treatment finished and I had two rounds of brachytherapy in October which put me into medical menopause.

Milly’s stage three diagnosis was changed to stage four when the cancer continued to spread. Picture: Supplied

It’s hard because I can’t have children and I wasn’t ready to stop growing my family.

My partner and I had been trying for children for three years after my first was born and it just wasn’t meant to be. I was having miscarriage after miscarriage and we think it’s because of the cancer.

Since I’ve been diagnosed with stage four cervical cancer and it’s spread.

I’ve been through five rounds of radiation to my hips, my spine and to my lungs.

I was given six rounds of chemotherapy with immunotherapy but unfortunately I only made it to the fourth round before I had to go to the hospital.

My bowel had burst and I was in so much pain at home for four days before I made the call that I had to go to the hospital.

Because of the surgery I haven’t been about to receive ongoing treatment. I’ve been in hospital for 25 days now.

Basically my bowel was leaking and it was poisoning me inside. The surgery I had was lifesaving and left me with a stoma bag.

Milly’s bowel burst and she’s since been in hospital. Picture: Supplied

She has been unable to continue cancer treatment while recovering from her burst bowel. Picture: Supplied

We were told that the treatment wasn’t responding well in my spine. There’s been continuous growth of the tumours in my spine which has resulted in four fractured vertebrae.

The broken vertebrae are now pressing on my spinal cord itself.

I have to have walking assistance to go to the toilet and to walk around because my legs are weaker.

Unfortunately the cancer has gone up the spine and is now in my brain.

Milly flew a blessed Pounamu necklace, which is sacred in New Zealand, for her son George to remember her by. Picture Dean Martin

I’ve got cancerous fluid covering my whole brain under my skull.

I’ve been given a life expectancy of a year if everything goes well or four months at worst.

(My son) knows that mummy is not going to be here for much longer but I will always be with him in spirit.

I’ve had to start making scrapbooks for him to look back on and writing birthday cards for him. I got him a Pounamu necklace made in New Zealand, blessed and sent over to give to him.

He’s my best friend. He’s my little mate.

I hope my memory lives on and he can look back on photos and his Pounamu necklace, he can hold it and say my mum gave this to me.

Originally published as Day my life changed: ‘They said I was too young for cancer’