Mum of two young boys diagnosed with brain tumour after battling breast cancer

A fundraising account has been set up for a Queensland mum who is afraid she won’t see her boys grow up after being diagnosed with a brain tumour not long after battling breast cancer.

Brisbane mum of two small boys, Larissa, beat breast cancer once, only to be diagnosed with a stone-fruit-sized tumour this year. Picture: Steve Pohlner

A Brisbane mother of two who recently overcome a battle with breast cancer is now facing six months of treatment after an apricot-size brain tumour was discovered in February.

A few days before Christmas 2020, Larissa, who was still breastfeeding her nine-month-old son, was told she had Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) breast cancer.

The then-38-year-old was forced to undergo an initial four months of intensive chemotherapy and a double mastectomy, which included removing the lymph nodes under her arm on her left side.

A month of radiation, more targeted chemotherapy and associated cancer-fighting medication followed.

“I didn’t know anything about breast cancer. I had no family history,” Larissa said.

“I was really surprised by the diagnosis … but also because there’s just no information about breast cancer for people my age, I just automatically assumed the worst in that it was a death sentence … it was probably the worst thing I’ve had to experience in my life.

“Just the fear of this little tiny baby and my son, who was four at the time, just not being there was really hard.”

Brisbane Mum-of-two young boys, Larissa, recently had an apricot-size brain tumour removed. Picture: Steve Pohlner

But in February 2023, Larissa, who asked for her surname to not be used, started to experience intense headaches.

A few weeks, test results from a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) found the headaches were being caused by a HER2-related brain tumour the size of an apricot.

“I genuinely thought, even my oncologist thought, it was unlikely to be a brain tumour, we really thought it was a nerve in my neck,” she said.

“It was shocking but because it happened so quickly, literally 24 hours between finding out and having it cut out, again I was elated because it was such a good outcome.

“When they found it, they couldn’t believe that I was driving and walking around – I had this 12-hour period where I thought ‘well that’s it’ or ‘I’m going to be in a wheelchair’ all these thoughts that go through your mind and so when you get a better outcome then all of those things, you are so grateful.

“I guess because you have gone to the worst case scenario you’re so happy with the alternative.”

Larissa is now classed as having stage-four breast cancer.

“While I don’t have an active tumour right now they still class me as stage-four which means I have to have three monthly scans and observations,” she said.

Larissa said she is determined to overcome this diagnosis for her husband Adrian, 41, and boys Henry, 7, and William, 3.

Larissa, 41, with her kids Henry, 7, and William, 3. Picture: Steve Pohlner

The integrative health treatment Larissa requires is anticipated to cost up to $30,000 for six months.

A GoFundMe fundraising account has been launched to assist Larissa and her family with these out of pocket expenses.

“There’s lots of clinical trials and research behind it but it hasn’t been picked up by the PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme), Medicare or health insurance because it’s not traditional medical oncology,” she said.

Asked about conversations with her children, Larissa said: “Henry my eldest was four when I was first diagnosed, I didn’t explain it to him then, we just said that my ‘boobies got sick and I had to have treatment’ and that was it”.

“We haven’t used the C-word … they just know that I get sick and then I get some medicine and I get better.”