Ambulance Australia’s Elizabeth ‘Biffie’ Branagan in cancer fight

She spends her working hours saving the lives of strangers, but now paramedic Elizabeth ‘Biffie’ Branagan is in her own fight for life. The 32-year-old star of Ambulance Australia has been diagnosed with blood cancer non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

• Reality of life on the road for our ‘frontline angels’
• Dogs boost morale in stressful ambo call centres

Elizabeth Branagan has spent her career as a paramedic saving others but now she is in a fight for her own life.

At just 32, the ultra-fit paramedic, a star of the reality show Ambulance Australia, recently noticed she was breathless at the gym and the pain in her chest felt scarily like a heart attack.

“I was in so much pain and had typical heart attack symptoms in my chest and down my arm and up into my jaw, so I went in for an MRI and then a CT scan,” she said.

What was originally diagnosed as a haematoma — a clot from a broken blood vessel — was much, much worse.

Ambulance Australia star and NSW paramedic Elizabeth “Biffie” Branagan has been diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. Picture: Tim Hunter.

MORE FROM JANE HANSEN

IMPROVEMENTS IN IVF LEAD TO RISE IN ‘TWIBLINGS’

RISING NUMBER OF WOMEN VICTIMS OF SURF RAGE

The scans found a tumour bigger than a fist, a “third boob” she joked to friends, trying to lighten the fact she had just been diagnosed with the blood cancer non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“It’s not good, but I have never thought worst case scenario and I have kept a sense of humour, tumour humour,” she joked.

Ms Branagan, known as Biffie to her friends and who gets noticed by patients who say “aren’t you that girl on the show”, is now two weeks into her 18 weeks of chemotherapy at Royal North Shore Hospital.

But as many health workers will attest, they make for tricky patients.

Biffie maintaining her positive attitude as she undergoes a heart pool scan. Picture: Supplied

What would make most of us faint, fascinates Biffie. She actually asked to watch on screen as they inserted the central line into her chest that feeds her chemotherapy.

“I have a morbid fascination as a paramedic,” she said.

Chemo is no joking matter. This week her hair started to fall out in clumps, a confronting moment for any woman.

“I don’t like it, I’m finding it hard to relinquish control but I’m trying to be a good patient, but as a paramedic, I’m asking questions and pulling back curtains to look at the procedures,” she said.

Biffie in hospital. Picture: Supplied

Biffie will appear in two more episodes of the popular Ch 10 show.

‘It is coming out so I cut it short. I now it’s going to happen and I know I have got to do this and I’m not the only one going through this so I don’t have the right to complain, but I’m not celebrating it,” she said.

“Some have head shaving parties but it’s too personal for me, I’m too attached to the girly stuff. I’m really girly and love the femininity and I worry about feeling ugly or undesirable.”

What is keeping her spirits up is her “blue family” — the paramedics she works with in Sydney as her own family lives in Melbourne.

A tumour “bigger than a fist” was found in Biffie’s chest. Picture: Supplied

Biffie has been swamped with messages of support. Picture: Supplied

“My blue family has sent countless calls and messages and texts and visits, they have been wonderful,” she said.

Her last two episodes of Ambulance Australia — which is in its second season on Channel 10 — go to air next week.

Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma has a cure rate of 80 to 90 per cent, so Ms Branagan is maintaining her positive attitude. In fact all she wants is to get back to work the week after chemo ends. But her take home message is listen to your body.

“Trust your body, I had an ultrasound and they told me it was a haematoma but I just knew it was something more going on and pushed for more tests,” she said.

Originally published as Ambulance Australia’s Elizabeth ‘Biffie’ Branagan in cancer fight