A husband was left devastated after his wife, and mother of his two children, died at the age of 38 from breast cancer.
Jess Blees passed away shortly after midnight on August 8 after a brief and brutal second bout of stage four triple-negative breast cancer spread to her brain.
Her husband, Cameron Edwards, said her rapid deterioration was “one of the scariest moments of my life.”
Ms Blees, a nurse, was originally diagnosed in August last year when she was 22 weeks pregnant with her youngest daughter, Mila.
Ms Blees gave birth to her “double miracle” son in November, between rounds of chemotherapy that had “melted” the tumours in March.
Almost a year after her first diagnosis, she began experiencing intense migraines and blurred vision.
An MRI scan in July revealed the breast cancer had spread and four tumours were found in Ms Blees’ brain and one on her optic nerve.
He received another devastating blow when the cancer spread to his spinal fluid, leading to a terminal diagnosis.
Melbourne mother-of-two Jess Blees (pictured with daughter Mira) tragically passed away earlier this month after a second battle with a rare cancer.
Although she knew she wouldn’t live a full life, Blees hoped to see her two daughters, Evie, 3, and Mila, 9 months (both conceived through IVF), reach primary school.
Mr Edwards said he found it difficult to watch his wife’s condition deteriorate so rapidly while trying to prepare his daughters for the reality of her death.
“The hardest part for me is the challenge of telling a three-year-old that, just that night, Jess was passing away,” she told Daily Mail Australia.
‘She was taken to hospital to see her mother in a situation where, at the time, she was having difficulty breathing and was effectively in a coma.
“And then Evie, you know, leaned over and gave her mom a kiss.”
Mr Edwards added that he is trying to stay strong for his two daughters despite having “lost the love of my life”.
“What really bothers me and still bothers me now is that my daughters are not going to grow up and meet their mother,” she said.
‘Jess loved them’
Ms Blees is survived by her husband, Cameron Edwards, and two daughters, Evie, 3 (bottom left) and Mila, 9 months (bottom right).
Although the news of new tumors was disconcerting, Ms. Blees remained confident that new treatment methods would help.
High-precision gamma knife treatment targeting the tumors helped relieve some of the pain from the migraines for a day before they returned.
Mr Edwards said doctors were stunned by the almost immediate return of debilitating migraines that could not be attributed to radiation.
They continued to monitor and attempt to treat the tumors before finding them in the fluid that provides nutrients to her brain, known as leptomeningeal cancer.
Those suffering from the disease are usually given up to four months to live if they receive treatment, but this would lead to Ms Blees’ death just three days later..
The widowed husband said he is devastated by his wife’s bad luck at every step of her devastating battle with cancer.
“I just keep myself busy so I don’t fall on the ground,” Edwards said.
“But I think the hardest part is at night, when they go to sleep, you’re sitting there and you’re like, ‘What now?'”
The young mother’s second bout of stage four triple-negative breast cancer only lasted several weeks after it spread aggressively to her brain.
Around 300 people attended Ms Blees’ funeral, which Edwards said was a reflection of how positive and well-loved she was.
“Wherever she went, she lit up the place. She was respected and loved by everyone,” he said.
‘Just seeing someone so positive and optimistic that she never let anything get to her only to unfortunately be dealt that set of cards that she just suffered through.
‘Luckily he didn’t suffer for months, but he suffered quite a bit in that short space of time.’
TO GoFundMe It was recently reopened by Ms Blees’ sister Amanda in the hope of helping support Mr Edwards and his two daughters following their tragic loss.
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