February 19, 2021 • bachelor insider
Lesley Murphy Reveals She's 'Not Able to Breastfeed' Newborn Daughter Nora After Double Mastectomy
Following the February 12 arrival of her daughter, Nora Blanche, with fiancé Alex Kavanagh, Lesley Murphy took to social media on Thursday to explain why she isn’t breastfeeding.
“Lots of these so wanted to address!” the “Bachelor” alum captioned an Instagram Story screenshot showing a DM asking “why” she isn’t breastfeeding her newborn. “I had a double mastectomy four years ago and am not able to breastfeed.”
She added, “Even if I was, we should all support everyone’s unique feeding journey.”
Lesley introduced Bachelor Nation to Nora on Valentine’s Day two days after her birth. “I find her so perfect that sometimes words fail me and I’m left in tears instead...like right now,” the proud mom wrote alongside hospital photos with Alex and their bundle of joy. “Pure love is being home with this little ball of joy on a snowy Valentine’s Day as a family of 3!”
Lesley shared her pregnancy news in September. “Baby Kavanagh taking flight in 2021!” she wrote on Instagram at the time, expressing excitement at starting a family with Alex, a drone pilot and the founder of DRONEGEAR. “Finally, someone to occupy the middle seat. @drone.pilot and I couldn’t be more excited to grow our little family!”
Years prior, in 2017, Lesley — who lives in Little Rock, Arkansas, with Alex and their little one — underwent a double mastectomy and then got breast implants after testing positive for the BRCA-2 gene, which signaled a higher risk for developing breast and ovarian cancer.
“I now have a 1 percent chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer,” she wrote in an October 2018 blog post, detailing her potentially lifesaving surgery. “I’ve had implants inside my chest for over a year now and have zero regrets. … The downside? I lost all feeling in my breasts and, well, let’s just say they aren’t the most natural looking things all the time.”
