While raging hormones and nerves are part and parcel of pregnancy, the lead-up to Sally Obermeder becoming a mother was especially challenging.
When Sally was just days away from giving birth to her first child Annabelle in 2011, she discovered a breast lump the size of a tennis ball and received the devastating news she had stage-three breast cancer.
Immediately after Annabelle’s birth, the former Daily Edition host went through 16 rounds of chemotherapy and two mastectomies.
By Sally’s side throughout the exhausting and heartbreaking ordeal has been her doting husband Marcus, whom she married back in 2001.
The couple were told that another natural pregnancy would be life-threatening but thanks to her previous IVF treatment, Sally had four embryos remaining and just needed a surrogate.
Sally and Marcus travelled to America where they met Wisconsin mum Rachel who agreed to carry their second child Elissa, who celebrated her fifth birthday in December 2021.
Nowadays, Sally, Marcus and their two girls couldn’t be happier, but the TV presenter hasn’t been immune to everyday mum dilemmas! The 48-year-old has remained refreshingly candid on social media about tantrums, tears and tribulations of motherhood.
To celebrate the Obermeders, we’ve compiled an album of their sweetest and most relatable moments.
Sally and her husband Marcus Obermeder share two daughters; Annabelle, ten and Elissa, five.
When Sally was 41-weeks pregnant with her eldest daughter Annabelle, she discovered a breast lump the size of a tennis ball and was diagnosed with stage-three breast cancer.
Just days after giving birth, the TV personality endured 16 rounds of chemotherapy and two mastectomies, sharing her journey publicly.
Sally was told that another natural pregnancy would be life-threatening but thanks to her previous IVF treatment, Sally had four embryos remaining and just needed a surrogate.
In July 2016, Sally revealed that another child was on the way via a surrogate. But due to strict surrogacy laws in Australia, Sally and Marcus journeyed to the United States where they met Wisconsin mum Rachel who agreed to carry their child.
In December the same year, little Elissa was born in the United States.
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“I’m not crying. You’re crying. Fk it. I’m so crying. 😭😭” Sally wrote alongside this photo on Elissa’s first day of primary school in January 2022.
“I always look at her [Elyssa] and Mark and I always say how incredibly fortunate we are to have her and all the joy she’s brought into our lives,” Sally previously said of her youngest daughter.
“She’s an absolute bundle of energy and joy and sassy cheekiness. Every day I’m like ‘Wow this is the best thing we ever did.'”
Sally and Marcus are still in close contact with Rachel, their surrogate mum in the US, and have even begun to adopt some American traditions like Thanksgiving.
“I still speak to Rachel all the time and I think that bond will be there for life. It’s so deep and so unique and unlike any other relationship because who else has anyone ever been through something like that with? That’s something that’s very unique to our family and their family and we will be forever connected in that way, it’s very special,” she previously told Now To Love.
Cuties! Annabelle and Elissa always show off their cheeky side on Sally’s social media.
On Father’s Day in 2021, Sally took the opportunity to heap praise on her husband-of-20-years by sharing this adorable snap.
“Happy Father’s Day babe. You love us fiercely and and so selflessly. Lucky us.❤️ To anyone who feels the pangs of today, I send you my heartfelt love. ❤️❤️,” she wrote.
Sally shared this heart-warming post with her eldest Annabelle to mark a milestone in their mother-daughter relationship.
“I felt that shift that comes when your kids hit a new life stage. Her big holiday request was a shopping day, just the two of us. 😭,” Sally wrote.
“It was such a shift from wanting to only look at toys to suddenly wanting to try on clothes together in the fitting room and strolling through the mall talking about big life stuff and going for “coffee” together. I can’t even. I cried so many times. 🤦🏼♀️”
Sally reminds us that at heart, she’s an everyday mum doing school pick-up.
“last day of school 🙌🏼🙌🏼 we made it. these little peeps made it. what a year. what champions. ❤️❤️,” she captioned this post.
Throughout Sydney’s 2021 lockdown, Sally remained refreshingly candid about the struggles of home-schooling two young kids.
“Today started with a tantrum. Hers. Then mine. Then both. 🥴 my lockdown parenting style is all bets off. It’s whatever works. Emotions are high. Everyone is just trying to get through.
We resolved it eventually. I apologised. I explained. We made up,” she hilariously captioned this post with Elissa.
On Annabelle’s 10th birthday in October 2021, Sally penned a beautiful tribute to her daughter on what’s a bittersweet day for the Obermeder family.
“This beautiful baby who came into the world in unusual circumstances. She came with me to places babies shouldn’t go, and she saw things babies shouldn’t see,” Sally wrote, referencing her cancer diagnosis.
“She tolerated night after night of my tears falling onto her head as I held her, wondering what would become of me and what would become of her.
“And so today is for her. My heart that beats outside me, a soul that shines so bright, I’m sure she was sent from the heavens.”
“BFFs for life. ❤️”
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