‘It’s not my time’: Inspirational 27-year-old mum Milly Mitchell fights terminal cancer to be there for her young son

At just age 27, Milly Mitchell is facing what no mother should ever have to endure – the prospect of leaving her young son behind. Here she explains why she’s keeping it from him.

• Record numbers of young with cancer

After months of being told she was “too young for cancer”, Milly Mitchell decided to take matters into her own hands.

In the bathroom of her home, the young mum-of-one conducted a self-examination after suffering severe abdominal pains and extensive bleeding.

To her horror, she felt an eight centimetre tumour.

“I had a feel around and I could feel something so I was trying to pull it out,” the 27-year-old said.

“After that my bleeding was uncontrollable, I couldn’t control it so I took myself to the hospital.”

It was there a gynaecologist conducted an examination and confirmed Milly’s worst suspicions – she was suffering from cervical cancer.

“I was angry and upset,” said Milly, who spoke to The Advertiser as part of our Too Young for Cancer campaign, aimed at shining a light on the troubling rise in young people being diagnosed with cancer.

Not only has Milly had to navigate the difficult health battle at hand, the loving mother has faced a conversation with her four-year-old son George no mother should endure.

“I told him ‘mummy’s not well and she’s going to lose her hair, but don’t be scared when I start losing my hair because it means I’m getting better and stronger for you’,” she said.

Asked whether she considered telling little George that she may not be around one day, Milly said it was never an option.

“It is too much for him to know at four years old.

“I’ve explained that I’m not well and won’t be able to play and do all the things I usually do and he’ll need to help out a bit more. He knows mummy is not well, but I explained it to him in a way he can understand and cope with.”

Milly Mitchell has been diagnosed with stage four cervical cancer. Picture: Dean Martin

For Milly, the diagnosis was only the start of a painful battle against cancer.

And with her four-year-old son George and partner Declan Legge by her side, Milly has been through painful IVF treatment, weeks of radiation treatment, chemotherapy and even brachytherapy – a type of internal radiation therapy – which sent her into a medical menopause and burnt her ovaries.

“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,” she said.

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

Sadly for Milly, in the months after her treatment, she started suffering back pain – the cancer had returned and spread.

Then late last year, she heard the words no mother would want to hear.

“The doctor told me unfortunately, you have stage four cancer now and it’s called secondary cancer now and it’s most likely spread from the lymph nodes through the bloodstream and now it’s in my bones,” she said.

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

Milly’s cancer had returned and she would have to enter palliative care. Picture: Supplied

Milly is now in palliative care, and is trying everything to fight her cancer, even attempting clinical trials and targeted treatment through radiation and immunotherapy.

“I can’t pass away because I have George,” she said.

“I’m not ready yet. I’m too young. I still have a lot of things that I want to do. It’s not my time.

“(But) if my body does not accept the treatment then there will be nothing they can do and I will be told how much longer I have left to live.”

Milly continued to bleed through tampons and pads, until one day while at work she was rushed to hospital. Picture: Supplied

For Milly, the hardest pill to swallow is that her cancer had been dismissed by a string of GPs.

In August 2022, she developed an extremely painful UTI and a period which continued for four months straight.

“It didn’t stop,” she said. “It was getting heavier, and heavier, and heavier and I went to about five different doctors.”

One GP told Milly, who had endometriosis, that a prolonged four-month period was normal for someone with her condition.

Milly was prescribed a hormonal pill to stop a four-month long period. Picture: Supplied

Milly with her partner Declan Legge. Picture: Supplied

He prescribed her a hormonal pill to stop it, which didn’t work. Then another doctor went on to tell her she had a kidney disease.

“I asked my GP, would we consider checking for cancer and he said, no because ‘you’re too young to consider cancer’,” Milly explained.

But Milly’s cancer had developed quickly. In fact, in the February of last year, her pap smear had picked up no irregularities. By that July, she was handed the cancer news.

“It was a bit of a shock,” she said. “I was angry and upset because if they (doctors) more switched on I don’t think I would’ve gotten this far, I would’ve been able to save my fertility, I would possibly not been in menopause and I probably would have had other options of treatments.”

Milly had a PET scan scheduled for a check up when she started to feel back pain. Picture: Supplied

Milly has a high pain tolerance having given birth with no pain medication. Picture: Supplied

And while Milly’s story is truly her own, she is sadly not alone in being a young woman battling cancer.

In fact, she is one of a rising number of under 50s being diagnosed with cancer, with doctors labelling it a worrying “epidemic” that will continue to grow.

By 2030, one recent study published in BMJ Oncology estimated the number of these early-onset cancer diagnoses could increase by roughly 30 per cent worldwide – and the number of people who die from their conditions could rise by about 20 per cent.

A staggering number, which has really come under the spotlight in recent months following Catherine, Princess of Wales, sharing her own cancer diagnosis at just 42 years old in March.

Hollywood actor Olivia Munn, 43, has detailed her “terrifying” cancer journey on social media, saying she now no longer fears death.

And it comes as Bollywood actor Poonam Pandey died of cervical cancer in February at just 32 years old.

What’s causing this? Recent research Taussig Cancer Institute in the US suggests our cells are ageing faster than ever due to a rise in stressful sedentary lifestyles and poor food choices.

But really, the rise has doctors baffled and in March it was announced that Government-funded researchers at top universities in the US and UK will receive up to $25 million over five years to investigate.

When it comes to cervical cancer, like Milly’s, there’s been an increase in young diagnosis in recent years, with 593 young Australians diagnosed with cervical cancer last year compared to 560 in 2020.

What’s challenging is that the symptoms are far ranging, from unusual bleeding or discomfort during sex, but as usual as feeling tired or backache.

Amanda Robertson the information and support manager from Cancer Council said to ask your GP about self-collection for cervical screening.

“This is now available to anyone with a cervix and means that you can collect your own sample using a special type of long-handled cotton bud, in private, while at the GP,” she said.

For Milly, as she waits to learn how long she has left, she dreams of visiting Uluru and jumping out of a plane.

She waits to know how long she will have with her son. How long she will be a mum.

And she hopes that she might save at least one person reading this who thinks: “I think I need to get tested”.

If you would like more information or support about living with cancer, treatment or diagnosis, please contact the Cancer Council on 13 11 20.

Originally published as ‘It’s not my time’: Inspirational 27-year-old mum Milly Mitchell fights terminal cancer to be there for her young son