A first-time mother was diagnosed with leukaemia 10 days after giving birth, having initially dismissed tiredness and bleeding gums as “common pregnancy symptoms”.

Rebecca Robinson, 33, who lives in Leeds with her husband James, experienced fatigue throughout her pregnancy in 2024. Despite a blood test at 28 weeks flagging low iron, her midwife expressed no concern.

Later, when her gums started bleeding in the final weeks of pregnancy, Rebecca said her dentist reassured her it was perfectly normal, leaving no one to suspect a serious underlying condition.

However, just 10 days after giving birth, Rebecca was told she had acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), a fast-growing type of blood cancer.

The diagnosis, which required treatment to begin within two days, left her in "complete shock”.

She said she was “robbed” of time with her newborn while undergoing treatment for six months, but now, two years in remission, she is finally able to be “a normal mum”.

“I felt hugely guilty for Annabel because that’s not the life that I wanted her to have,” Rebecca said.

“I wanted to be able to go to baby classes with her and just have the maternity leave away from work, and my reality was completely different.

“I just felt robbed… but luckily, I got into remission after the first round (of chemotherapy) and I’ve stayed in remission ever since.”

Rebecca explained that she was “completely healthy” prior to her cancer diagnosis.

She said she “never went to the doctors”, but at 28 weeks pregnant, she had a routine blood test which flagged low iron levels.

“It’s super common in pregnancy, so I was put on iron tablets. I didn’t think anything of it at all,” she said.

Rebecca experienced fatigue as well but, given this was her first pregnancy, she assumed it was simply “pregnancy tiredness”.

She was able to continue working up until 38 weeks, but at 40 weeks, she started experiencing bleeding gums and noticed a “little lump on (her) gum”.

According to the NHS, many pregnant women get a condition called pregnancy gingivitis, where the gums become swollen, red and tender, and they may bleed when brushing or flossing.

While Rebecca knew this was a “common pregnancy symptom”, she decided to visit the dentist “to get it checked out”.

“The dentist said: ‘Oh, it’s just an infection, but there’s no point in giving you antibiotics because you’re 40 weeks pregnant. Of course, your gums are going to be bleeding’,” she said.

On April 26 2024, during labour, Rebecca said she requested an epidural – an injection in the back to help relieve pain – and doctors took blood samples, which revealed her platelets were low.

Just hours after delivery, Rebecca developed a high temperature and was kept in hospital for eight days, where she had blood tests every day to monitor her levels.

She said: “It wasn’t until I had my blood test during labour that doctors said: ‘No, something crazy is happening’.”

While doctors did not think Rebecca had sepsis or a retained placenta, when part or all of the placenta and membranes are left in the womb after childbirth, she said they wanted to “test (her) for everything”.

After her temperature returned to a normal level and remained there for 24 hours, she was discharged from hospital and was told to monitor her symptoms and return in six weeks for repeated blood tests.

However, two days later – 10 days after giving birth – she was called back into hospital for a bone marrow biopsy and was told to bring an overnight bag.

While cuddling her newborn baby on May 7, she was given the news that she had AML – and she felt “completely blindsided”.

“They took me into a room and said: ‘You’ve got leukaemia. We’re going to do a biopsy today to work out exactly what’s what, but you’ll be in for six weeks and you’ll have to stop breastfeeding because the chemo will make your milk toxic’,” she explained.

“It all just felt very out of the blue.”

According to the charity Leukaemia Care, leukaemia and other blood cancers can cause vague symptoms.

Some of the more common symptoms can include feeling exhausted, bruising easily, unusual bleeding such as nosebleeds or bleeding gums, infections, fever and joint or bone pain.

Initially, Rebecca said she was “in denial” about her diagnosis, but after some time to process it, she felt grateful that doctors had “found it during labour”.

Looking back on her bleeding gums, she said: “I could have gone to 1,000 dentists and probably not one of them would have thought (it was) leukaemia because I was so heavily pregnant and it’s such a common pregnancy symptom.”

Rebecca started chemotherapy two days after her diagnosis and said the treatment meant she could not breastfeed, attend baby classes or spend quality time with her daughter during her first six months of life.

“It just felt so unfair,” she said.

“You’ve spent nine months psyching yourself up for this experience, and then it was just completely taken away.”

Rebecca said she reached remission after the first round of chemotherapy, but she continued to have three more rounds, ending in November 2024, and she did not require a stem cell transplant.

She now has biopsies every three months, with two more left on her current treatment plan, and she feels extremely “lucky” to be alive.

She “loves being a mum” and is enjoying “making up all the time that (she) lost” with Annabel.

Rebecca said her cancer journey has taught her that “everything is temporary” and that “anything can change”, and she is urging others to get any unusual symptoms checked and to advocate for themselves.

“Now I’m near the end, I keep thinking: ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe that actually happened to me and I actually survived it’,” she said.

“It was unlucky that my gene mutated, but it was lucky that the treatment worked, and I know that it is just chance.

“It’s just a game of chance and I’ve just won on this occasion.”

She added: “To anyone diagnosed, just know that it’s all temporary and you can make a full recovery.

“That is the story I wish that I would have seen two years ago when I was lying in bed with a newborn.

“I wish I could have just found a story like mine and thought: ‘That’s going to be me’.”

Colin Dyer, chief executive of Leukaemia Care, said: “Rebecca’s story is a powerful reminder that leukaemia can strike at any stage of life – even during pregnancy.

“Every symptom she experienced had a perfectly innocent explanation, and that is exactly what makes this disease so difficult to catch.

“We are so grateful to Rebecca for sharing her experience and helping to show others that if something doesn’t feel right, it is always worth asking for a blood test.”

To find out more about Leukaemia Care’s ‘Spot Leukaemia’ campaign, visit: leukaemiacare.org.uk/get-involved/spot-leukaemia.