Isla Foy, 35, was 26 weeks pregnant when she felt pain in her left breast. As the pain continued to increase, she saw her doctor six weeks later where she was referred to an ultrasound. Isla – who is married to husband Trevor and mum to two young boys Bailey and Freddie – remembers the ultrasound vividly.  

“The image was up on the screen, and I thought ‘oh my gosh, that is all white. Yep, that looks bad,” she recalls. After being sent for a mammogram and a biopsy, she was diagnosed with Stage 3 Triple positive inflammatory breast cancer.  

“It was August 15, 2023. I was now 33 weeks pregnant, and I had to start chemotherapy,” says Isla. “The Oncologist started my chemotherapy treatment within a week at 34 weeks pregnant.” 

 A complication of the treatment forced Isla into early labour and son Freddie was born 6 weeks prematurely. As Freddie received care in the special care nursery, Isla continued chemotherapy.  

“It all just happens so fast”

“I had four rounds of chemotherapy every fortnight, then I moved to weekly chemo, finishing my treatment mid-January this year,” she says. “Three weeks later, I had a single mastectomy on my left breast”.
Isla says that being a new and going through treatment took it’s toll.  

“I’m tired, I just get really tired and there are just some days where it’s hard, you want to be back to your old self, but you don’t have that same energy and it can be tricky,” she explains. “Mentally I would say I’m doing okay, but there are obviously days which are harder than others. It’s a very big thing to have gone through and it all happens so fast. Having a baby, having treatment, having surgery, having radiation and it’s like, okay, now we can have a bit of a break, but your brain has to catch up and it’s like, I’m really tired.”  

“Michelle has been my little voice”

Throughout her treatment, Isla has been supported by her McGrath Breast Care Nurse Michelle Edwards.  

Isla affectionately reflects: “Michelle our McGrath Breast Care Nurse has been a shining light. She has been really amazing. From day one, she went to the first oncology appointment, it was all so quick. She welcomed us, she took care of Bailey whilst Trevor and I had to listen to that first important conversation of what we were about to go through and Michelle really helped look after Bailey and Freddie for other conversations we’ve had to have, so yeah, she’s been really amazing. She has been my little voice. She is like an Aunty to the kids.” 

 Michelle could see Isla’s situation was complex and the goal posts were constantly changing for Isla. 

“Isla was extremely brave; she would cry and then she would pull herself together and say, ‘it’s okay’ after we had conversations,” says Michelle. “I spent a lot of time lying on the bed just holding her, because the goal posts were changing. There were lots of different layers to deal with when someone is in a crisis like this. When she started chemotherapy, she went into labour, the Oncologist was saying she needs to have the baby in the next day or two. We had to explain, this baby needs to come out now. Every day was a new challenge and that’s where I spent a lot of time with her, explaining why and taking the fear out and the fact that she understood why things needed to change, made it so much easier for her to accept what was going on”. 

Helping others by sharing the experience

Sadly, Trevor’s mother also had breast cancer and passed away in February. In tribute to his late mother and wife Trevor did a push up challenge raising over $5,000 for the McGrath Foundation. “It is good to raise awareness and important funds for the McGrath Foundation.”  

Isla has also documented her breast cancer experience on her Facebook and Instagram page called “Isla’s Road to Recovery” which she has found to be therapeutic. 

“I know it’s not the best situation to be in, but there are people that I have made connections with,” she says. “So, when I first started putting up posts on Instagram, I had people reaching out saying ‘I’m currently going through breast cancer, and I really appreciate you putting these posts up because it helps me get through my day’.
Then there’s people who have gone and got their breasts checked. There is even a girl who use to go to my high school, and she had some lumps in her back, and she went and got checked out and it was a really massive tumour. Thankfully they have been able to remove all the cancer, and it doesn’t look like she’ll need any ongoing treatment, but she did say she appreciated me putting posts up because it helped her get through her own journey, because she also has got a young daughter. So that’s been really, beautiful.”