‘Instead of bonding with my newborn I was fighting for my life – I want change for mothers diagnosed with cancer’
A mother whose daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was just one month old said she spent her maternity leave fighting for her life rather than bonding with her newborn.
Anna Priest, 41, noticed a lump in early 2024 while breastfeeding her youngest child, Ivy, who was four months old at the time but is now two years old. But she said she had to wait until Ivy was weaned before medical exams in May of that year confirmed the breast cancer diagnosis, which was still early.
This was followed by months of grueling treatment, including 16 rounds of chemotherapy, surgery that meant she couldn’t carry Ivy, and the difficult decision to use a cold hood to ease the distress of her other children, but it also meant she was in hospital further away from her newborn.
“It was a real struggle for me leaving little baby Ivy at home and then I’d be home and feel so terrible from the side effects,” she said. Independent. “It wasn’t the maternity leave I planned, [of] baby clubs and spending time with other mothers. [There are] It’s the bonding time that is so precious, as well as the milestones you think you’ve missed.
But because under current UK law maternity leave must begin with the birth of the child and cannot be paused or postponed, this was the period the mother-of-three was never able to return to.
At least two women every day in the UK are diagnosed with cancer during pregnancy or within the first year after giving birth, according to the charity Mummy’s Star, which supports women diagnosed with cancer during or during pregnancy.
As a result, hundreds of mothers face losing most or all of the time designed to recover and bond with their babies as they receive life-saving treatment. Mummy’s Star found that almost all (94 per cent) of mothers who responded to its survey last year said their maternity leave had been interrupted due to the diagnosis.
Campaigners are calling on the government to allow maternity leave to be postponed until after cancer treatment. The #SaveOurBond campaign suggests that women on maternity leave will automatically be put on sick leave if they receive a serious diagnosis, and can then finish maternity leave when they feel well enough before returning to work. A similar change was implemented in Ireland in 2024.
If maternity legislation is reformed and clarified in its time of need, it would be life-changing, Priest said. “This would help me a lot emotionally, physically, mentally and financially,” he said. “I was so brutal financially because I wasn’t well enough to go back to work.”
The 41-year-old woman was self-employed at the time and was paying statutory maternity pay, which ended two months after her diagnosis. He said he later discovered he was not notified that he was eligible for sick leave, which proved to be a difficult process.
“When you’re fighting for your life and your children, this isn’t the kind of thing you prioritize,” he said. So there was a six-month gap with no money coming in, a source of stress that could force women to work prematurely. Ms Priest said she felt “immense pressure” and had now decided to return to work, although she was still receiving treatment, but fortunately there was no evidence of lingering cancer.
She said: “It’s something else to worry about. My mental health has been shattered throughout this process. You’re not only thinking about your children, but also ‘Will I survive this? What is my legacy?’ The emotional toll this has on me is kicking you when you’re down. That mental pressure where you have to fight for other things like your life and then the financial impact on us.
The campaign has already received support from the likes of John McDonnell MP and Grahame Morris MP.
Mr McDonnell, Labor MP for Hayes & Harlington and former shadow chancellor, said: “At the request of several constituents, I have met with ‘Save Our Bond’ campaigners who are calling for mothers and birth parents diagnosed with cancer during or during pregnancy to be allowed to defer maternity leave until their treatment is completed. Really good idea – I support it.”
Ms Priest, who is a trustee of Mummy’s Star, joins calls for legislative change.
“It’s just a small change but it still makes a significant difference for women like my life; I feel completely robbed,” she said. “Sick leave is sick leave, and maternity leave is maternity leave. We want the law to be changed so you can make that distinction clearly and continue to use that precious maternity leave for the purpose it was intended: bonding with your child.”
A UK government spokesman said: “Receiving news of a cancer diagnosis is always devastating for individuals and families, especially for mothers who are on maternity leave and need to spend precious time bonding with their newborn.
“Our National Cancer Plan sets out how we can support people, including pregnant and postnatal women with cancer, and our parental leave review explores how we can better support working families so parents can spend time looking after what matters most – their babies.”
