Two weeks after the birth of her first child, Brega Van Vugt was sitting in a chemo chair at Peter Mac, her daughter asleep in a baby capsule beside her. 

She found out just one week before the birth that she had breast cancer. 

This is Brega’s story in her own words. 

I was 32 weeks pregnant when I felt a lump in my breast while showering - I wasn’t particularly checking. I was 33 years old at the time.

I went to my midwife the following day and she said it was probably just a blocked milk duct - and that’s exactly what I thought it was too. She encouraged me to massage it, which I did for a couple of weeks, but it became more painful so I went to my GP.

I was sent for an ultrasound and then a biopsy. I was a week away from having my baby when I was told that I had breast cancer. It was a lot to process. I couldn’t say it out loud for a few days because I would just break down.

My daughter was born eight days later and two weeks after that I started chemotherapy. She was by my side at every session and became a bit of a celebrity around Day Therapy. 

I finished chemo, had a lumpectomy, four and a half weeks of radiation and then seven months of oral chemotherapy – which brings me up to now. 

I never would have dreamt that this whole process would be this long – I’ve got the next five years of hormone therapy ahead of me which puts me into a chemical menopause. So there’s joint pain and hot flushes to get used to now. 

I’d worked with my doctors to plan for my future fertility and we’ve taken some steps if we do want to have another child and can’t have one naturally – something we talked about when I was sitting in an appointment heavily pregnant (which seems so absurd now). 

The breast care nurses were all so excellent through this whole journey – such an asset to Peter Mac. I’ve met with a couple of women who have been treated at other hospitals and they don’t get anywhere near the same kind of personal care where you can just pick up the phone and ask the nurses anything. 

For me this came out of the blue. I don’t have any family history of cancer or the breast cancer genes. I want people women to know that they can be diagnosed at any age, at any life stage. Pregnancy does not make you immune. 

I never could have imagined that this would happen to me at 33. Take control of your health – no one else is going to do it for you. 

Brega is now working with other women diagnosed with breast cancer during pregnancy, offering support and guidance as “someone who has got through to the other side”.