Friends rally for paramedic mum battling cancer after birth of son

A young Queensland paramedic, who has helped save hundreds of lives, is now fighting for her own life after being diagnosed with breast cancer while giving birth to her fourth child.

A bittersweet moment as baby Oscar is born but mum Steph is diagnosed with breast cancer. Picture: Contributed

Friends of a bayside paramedic are rallying around the young mum after she was diagnosed with breast cancer while she was in labour with her fourth child.

Redland woman Steph Jones now faces months off work as a Queensland Ambulance paramedic and the heartache of not being able to breastfeed her new baby son after doctors decided she needed a mastectomy.

Oscar was born on May 10, hours after the family received the devastating news that Mrs Jones had the life-threatening cancer.

Breast care nurses were able to see Ms Jones while she was delivering her son so she could experience at least one day of breastfeeding her baby.

Her medical nightmare started two days before she was due to give birth when she had a breast scan.

Doctors called her with the results as she was on her way to the Redland Hospital on May 9.

The young mum had been booked in to be induced for her baby on April 9 at Redland Hospital at 4pm but hours before, at 10.30am, she got a shattering phone call from her GP.

Friends are rallying around the family after the birth of baby Oscar. Pictures: Contributed

It was while she was on her way to the hospital that day that she received the call telling her it was breast cancer and she was unlikely to be able to breastfeed her newborn.

Ms Jones said she was still in shock over the diagnosis.

“After giving birth to my second child three years ago and losing a father and close friend within days of that birth, we thought it could not get any worse,’’ she said.

“But now the universe has said ‘hold my beer’ and that’s what we are doing.

“Being a paramedic, I have an unusual sense of humour because in that line of work we see all sorts of devastation.

“As paramedics, we are programmed to be prepared for the worst case scenario and that is what I am doing right now.

“The hardest part is that the choice of being able to breastfeed my own baby was taken away from me.

“It was a very emotional time knowing that I would only have the one chance of breastfeeding Oscar - which is something I have done with all three other kids.”

Husband Matthew has also had to step back from his role as a wardsman at Redland Hospital to look after the children, Noah, five, Lucas, aged three and Elsie, two.

Doctors were still determining the best way forward for Ms Jones, who underwent her first round of chemotherapy days after giving birth.

Longtime friend Courtney de Bruyn said the family needed as much help as possible, especially with cooked meals.

With both parents scaling back at work to deal with the medical emergency, she has set up a gofundme campaign.

“Steph is currently on maternity leave from her job as a paramedic, which she has done for the past 13 years, selflessly putting others’ needs ahead of her own,” Ms de Bruyn said.

“Matt will now be working significantly less hours than originally planned with Steph on maternity leave in order to assist her with getting to and from appointments as well as looking after the kids and maintaining their family home.

“The financial implications from this loss of income is going to be an added stress while this beautiful family navigates this devastating diagnosis.”

She said Ms Jones was one of her closest friends and would be grateful for any help the public could offer after realising the gravity of her diagnosis.

Money raised would go directly to the family to ease financial pressures and pay for some of Ms Jones’ treatment costs and household bills.