From cancer to miscarriages: Rotorua mother Selma Fernandes’ inspiring journey of resilience

Selma Fernandes, a healthcare worker, has faced a series of miscarriages and aggressive cancer since arriving in 2019. Despite her challenges, she works full-time at Rotorua Hospital and emphasises the importance of her support network. Fernandes, inspired by others, urges people in similar situations not to give up hope.

Selma Fernandes has suffered two miscarriages and battled aggressive, recurring cancer since arriving in New Zealand at the onset of the pandemic. But a recent conversation with her colleague about why she’s still working sums up why this woman’s journey has been far from sombre. “I told her, ‘It’s the mind that plays the game.



If the mind is strong, your body can cope with it’,” said 39-year-old Fernandes, who hopes to inspire others like her to find a silver lining in even the gloomiest of situations..