At five months pregnant with her first baby, Teharnee Peel was filled with excitement – setting up her son’s nursery and counting down the weeks until his arrival. Then she started to experience some bleeding.

The Queenslander’s first thought was that something was wrong with her baby.

“I went to my local Emergency Department in Mackay to get checked out as I had bleeding on and off multiple times,” Teharnee said.

“Harry was my biggest concern, he was our first baby and I wanted to do everything I could to save his life. Initially doctors thought it was a hematoma on my uterus or a low lying placenta that was causing issues.”

But the reality was much more sinister. Doctors discovered the 34-year-old had a 6.5cm cancerous mass growing in her cervix. Teharnee and her husband Simon were in complete shock. Her most recent pap smear results had been negative and she had been vaccinated against the HPV (Human papillomavirus) virus.

A biopsy revealed the expecting mum had a suspected squamous cell carcinoma, one of the most common forms of cervical cancer. She was referred to South Brisbane’s Mater Cancer Care Centre for specialised cancer treatment by Senior Medical Oncologist Dr Catherine Shannon.

“I was waiting for results, waiting for a treatment plan, we had started putting the nursery together and I was gutted I couldn’t paint the nursery,” Teharnee, who is now in remission, said.

She underwent chemotherapy, saying she wanted to do ‘whatever it took’ to give her son the best chance of survival. She did three rounds of chemo every three weeks until Harry was born.

“Harry is now two years old and he’s a fighter, he was from the very beginning.

“I started chemotherapy while pregnant, then again four weeks after I had Harry in conjunction with radiation.”

Harry was born at 32 weeks, weighing 2.3kg.

“I remember that day, I cried. Harry spent around three weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit,” she said.

“Harry was three months old when we returned to Mackay, we had been in Brisbane for five months, and Simon had taken seven months off work to be with us.”

Teharnee is now an ambassador for the Trudy Crowley Foundation Cancer Support Centre in Mackay, and wants to encourage other women to listen to their bodies.

“Don’t be embarrassed about any gynecological issues, doctors have seen it all,” she said.