Purpose after panic JESS' MANTRA OF HOPE

The women's advocate opens up about motherhood, health and her mission

- Fleur Guthrie

One morning recently, Jess Quinn experienced her most unexpected parenting moment. Marching into the bedroom with the determination of a wee soldier was Marla, her almost two-year-old daughter, who'd decided she wanted to wear mummy's prosthetic limb that day.

Woman's health advocate Jess, who lost her right leg to bone cancer at age eight, was left pondering how she could explain it in a way that would make sense to a tantruming toddler.

“Marla hasn't quite grasped the concept of me needing my leg to walk,” laughs Jess, 32. “I had to say, ‘You can put it on, but if you want to have a fun day, then Mummy needs to wear it.’

“My disability is just so normalised for her. But I imagine the questions are going to start coming as she pieces together the fact that, ‘Oh, my mummy's different.’

“I remember my dad has always had a stutter and it was so normal that I didn't realise until I got older that it was something unique to him.”

It's been a manic morning for Jess before she chats with the Weekly, catching up with us between media interviews for her new business – supplement range Cadence – as well as running the free women’s health platform called The Cyclist, which she launched earlier this year.

Co-founded with fellow mum Katherine Douglas, The Cyclist is a website, blog and podcast aimed at educating and supporting women through various stages of reproductive health, and includes resources from medical experts, plus real-life stories submitted by its members.

It tackles everything from puberty to prolapse, fertility, hysterectomies, menopause and more.

Jess says the platform was borne from both her and Katherine’s shared experience of years feeling dismissed and lost in the healthcare system, and left to figure their bodies out on their own.