A new mom battling postpartum depression skipped a routine appointment. An unrelated visit led to an unexpected diagnosis.

BY  NEWS BLEND 360

Updated 12:26 AM EST, December 30, 2026

Ameilia Boodoosingh Gopie didn't anticipate the severe depression that followed the birth of her first daughter in August 2022. In the ensuing months, Gopie found it difficult to get out of bed and was unable to spend time with her daughter. Her husband essentially took on the role of "a single dad for eight months," she explained. Routine appointments were neglected. 

Nearly a year later, Gopie began to feel better and was determined to make up for lost time. She took her daughter to visit family in New York, Canada, and Trinidad. Before long, her daughter was walking and talking. Gopie was so focused on "getting to love on my baby" that she continued to miss regular appointments. 

In December 2024, Gopie noticed that a shaving cut had become infected. Her primary care doctor reminded her about the importance of annual check-ups, particularly her mammogram. She was informed that her dense breasts qualified her for earlier screenings. Following this conversation, Gopie scheduled an appointment. Her mammogram results were abnormal, prompting her doctor to conduct another test. 

On Christmas Eve, she received the diagnosis: Stage III breast cancer. 

"Just saying that C-word tore my husband and me apart," Gopie, now 42, shared. "I remember us both crying like two-year-olds. My husband was holding our daughter, and she said, 'It's OK, Dada. It's OK, Mama.' She didn't understand, she just wanted her parents to stop crying." 

Coping with aggressive treatment 

Gopie and her family celebrated that Christmas as normally as possible. On December 26, she said they "hit the ground running" to get a second opinion and figure out a treatment plan.

Further testing determined that Gopie had triple-positive breast cancer. The subtype affects about 10% of breast cancer patients, according to the Cleveland Clinic. It has hormone receptors that make it more likely to respond favorably to treatment, but tends to be aggressive and present at a later stage, said Dr. Stuart Samuels, a radiation oncologist at the University of Miami Health System's Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center who treated Gopie. The disease had also spread to Gopie's lymph nodes. 

Doctors recommended aggressive treatment beginning with chemotherapy. It had uncomfortable side effects, including pain, nausea and vomiting, Gopie said. Eventually, she lost her hair.

Through it all, Gopie said it was hard to spend time with her daughter or stay focused at work. Gopie did what she could, prioritizing family time. When she was too sick to be with her daughter, she wrote letters to her and planned activities for when she was feeling better. 

A video diary, recorded before each treatment session, became a surprising source of strength, she said.

"I would tell that video how I felt, if I was happy, if I was sad, if I was nervous, what I think I'm going to expect that day, what I think I want for that day. I prayed every day and I still pray, but talking to myself every time before chemo helped a lot," Gopie said. "I realized doing those videos helped me to just release my feelings at that time." 

"It gets overwhelming" 

After finishing chemotherapy, Gopie underwent a double mastectomy. Samuels said surgeons found "quite a bit of cancer left in the breast," as well as in her armpit. That meant she would need radiation. 

Samuels administered the treatment over the next three weeks. Gopie said the radiation had new side effects, including intense headaches and a burning feeling in her skin. 

Later tests showed she would need more chemotherapy. The treatment was exhausting, Gopie said, and made it hard for her to work and spend time with her family. Most of her focus went to just putting one foot in front of the other, she said.  

Gopie is still "in a limbo area," Samuels said, but "the hardest part is over." When Gopie spoke to CBS News, she was still undergoing radiation, taking a daily medication and receiving a regular hormone therapy infusion.

"She still has an aggressive cancer, but she's just living her life," Samuels said. "Now it's really about recovery and enjoying her daughter." 

"Learning to be the new Ameilia"

Gopie said she has been working on finding a new normal. She recently had reconstructive surgery and said she is beginning to feel more like herself. 

"It's interesting, you know, the life that I live. I'm trying to maintain the old Ameilia, but now to go through the new journey that I'm going through, I'm also learning to be the new Ameilia, who goes through pains and nausea and wakes up with huge headaches and has a three-year-old," Gopie said. "It gets overwhelming." 

Throughout it all, the depression that haunted Gopie early in her daughter's life has never returned. 

"Thank goodness, I haven't gone through that," Gopie said. "I try my best to enjoy life. I know I'm going to be fine. I want to enjoy every second with my baby. I want to sing with her and laugh at her and dance with her and write things to her and leave it all over the house. I keep it positive."