I lost my mom to cancer at 15 and would have given the world to have one more month, one more week, even one more good day with her.

I can't imagine what I might have done in this family's place. She had the right to choose and no one really has the ability or the right to judge that choice.

But reading the story made me question what the mother went through. They had to remove her skull in the final weeks of her life, at which point she was already brain dead. What a horrific ending for her, and for all her children, including the micro preemie.

My young BIL passed away THREE WEEKS after his diagnosis. His doctors had given him a year or more! Same type of cancer.


Treatment decisions depend on the type of cancer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found out I had cancer while pregnant. I opted for an aggressive surgery while still pregnant ("essentially cut the cancer out") and then as soon as my child was born, I did chemo. It is an AWFUL position to be in. Don't judge.

Here is to your continued good health.

+1 I hope you stay healthy, PP.

And I have to think that this pregnancy probably wasn't your sixth child? Part of the calculus with such a decision must involve thinking about the kids born already--I can't think how adding a micro-premie to a newly single parent household of five kids helped anyone. This situation sounds like pro-life ideology stretched to an extreme, not thinking about all the lives involved.

Yes, this. The thought of the two-year-old breaks my heart. Another year or two with his or her mother would have made all the difference for this child.

Not necessarily. The mother's quality of life may have been awful while going through treatment and that can also have an adverse effect on a child, even one as young as 2 or 3. Not to mention how difficult it would be for the older children to watch their mother live like that.

Yeah, I'm sure watching your mother with no skull be kept alive on a ventilator so that she can incubate another baby was NBD.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found out I had cancer while pregnant. I opted for an aggressive surgery while still pregnant ("essentially cut the cancer out") and then as soon as my child was born, I did chemo. It is an AWFUL position to be in. Don't judge.

Here is to your continued good health.

+1 I hope you stay healthy, PP.

And I have to think that this pregnancy probably wasn't your sixth child? Part of the calculus with such a decision must involve thinking about the kids born already--I can't think how adding a micro-premie to a newly single parent household of five kids helped anyone. This situation sounds like pro-life ideology stretched to an extreme, not thinking about all the lives involved.

Yes, this. The thought of the two-year-old breaks my heart. Another year or two with his or her mother would have made all the difference for this child.

No, no it wouldn't.

- lost my mom as a child.

Nice that you can now speak for all children.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found out I had cancer while pregnant. I opted for an aggressive surgery while still pregnant ("essentially cut the cancer out") and then as soon as my child was born, I did chemo. It is an AWFUL position to be in. Don't judge.

Here is to your continued good health.

+1 I hope you stay healthy, PP.

And I have to think that this pregnancy probably wasn't your sixth child? Part of the calculus with such a decision must involve thinking about the kids born already--I can't think how adding a micro-premie to a newly single parent household of five kids helped anyone. This situation sounds like pro-life ideology stretched to an extreme, not thinking about all the lives involved.

Yes, this. The thought of the two-year-old breaks my heart. Another year or two with his or her mother would have made all the difference for this child.

Not necessarily. The mother's quality of life may have been awful while going through treatment and that can also have an adverse effect on a child, even one as young as 2 or 3. Not to mention how difficult it would be for the older children to watch their mother live like that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found out I had cancer while pregnant. I opted for an aggressive surgery while still pregnant ("essentially cut the cancer out") and then as soon as my child was born, I did chemo. It is an AWFUL position to be in. Don't judge.

Here is to your continued good health.

+1 I hope you stay healthy, PP.

And I have to think that this pregnancy probably wasn't your sixth child? Part of the calculus with such a decision must involve thinking about the kids born already--I can't think how adding a micro-premie to a newly single parent household of five kids helped anyone. This situation sounds like pro-life ideology stretched to an extreme, not thinking about all the lives involved.

Yes, this. The thought of the two-year-old breaks my heart. Another year or two with his or her mother would have made all the difference for this child.

I think the point of pro-life ideology is that they value the life of the unborn child over everything else. They are not basing their decision on all the lives that will be impacted. It's not my philosophy, and I would not have made the choice she did since I have young kids at home and would rather spend that last bit of time -- however long -- with them. But I don't think you can say this is more extreme in philosophy than anything else. It's an extreme case, yes, but the underlying principle is the same.

At bottom it was the couple's choice. Many of us wouldn't choose it. But it's not like there were any good choices here. And having had friends whose mother died of brain cancer when my friends were in high school and college, I can say that it would impact the older children very significantly too. Just a shitty situation all around. Very sad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found out I had cancer while pregnant. I opted for an aggressive surgery while still pregnant ("essentially cut the cancer out") and then as soon as my child was born, I did chemo. It is an AWFUL position to be in. Don't judge.

Here is to your continued good health.

+1 I hope you stay healthy, PP.

And I have to think that this pregnancy probably wasn't your sixth child? Part of the calculus with such a decision must involve thinking about the kids born already--I can't think how adding a micro-premie to a newly single parent household of five kids helped anyone. This situation sounds like pro-life ideology stretched to an extreme, not thinking about all the lives involved.

Yes, this. The thought of the two-year-old breaks my heart. Another year or two with his or her mother would have made all the difference for this child.

No, no it wouldn't.

- lost my mom as a child.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found out I had cancer while pregnant. I opted for an aggressive surgery while still pregnant ("essentially cut the cancer out") and then as soon as my child was born, I did chemo. It is an AWFUL position to be in. Don't judge.

Here is to your continued good health.

+1 I hope you stay healthy, PP.

And I have to think that this pregnancy probably wasn't your sixth child? Part of the calculus with such a decision must involve thinking about the kids born already--I can't think how adding a micro-premie to a newly single parent household of five kids helped anyone. This situation sounds like pro-life ideology stretched to an extreme, not thinking about all the lives involved.

Yes, this. The thought of the two-year-old breaks my heart. Another year or two with his or her mother would have made all the difference for this child.

I just watched someone die from GBM. He opted for treatment to extend his life. It was terrible. And he died 5 months after diagnosis (and was treated at Duke, which is a top place). I cannot judge anyone in this situation. It is a terrible thing and there are no good choices.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I only skimmed the article but it said that with treatment she could live 5 years with glioblastoma. The percentage of people who live 5 years with that kind of brain cancer is in the single digits, even with treatment. The typical survival time after diagnosis is about a year.

A lot of women find out they have cancer while pregnant, since pregnancy suppresses the immune system causing latent cancer to grow. Some women choose to abort and treat the cancer, but I understand completely if one chooses not to, especially with a cancer that has dismal survival rates.

FWIW, this is the same type of brain cancer that John McCain has, and that killed Ted Kennedy.

[b]Yes, nobody survives this cancer - not yet. I pray they develop new treatments. But 18 months is usually the maximum.

No, people do. Not a lot but outliers do survive it. There are many blogs online of people who are 5, 7, 10 years from diagnosis.

Any many more do have 2 (and sometimes 3) relatively decent years of life before declining and dying (if they get aggressive surgical treatment at a tertiary center).
I work with these patients all the time and have also (sadly) known 3 people personally who died of a GBM who all survived over 2 years.

Anonymous wrote:Such a sad story, on so many levels. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/09/10/she-rejected-chemotherapy-and-chose-to-die-of-cancer-so-she-could-give-birth-to-her-child/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories-2_tyh-cancermom-6pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.7779813c045c

This is a non story.

When you refuse cancer treatment you die 100% of the time.

That was her choice. She is no more or less special than the hundreds of people who also refuse treatment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found out I had cancer while pregnant. I opted for an aggressive surgery while still pregnant ("essentially cut the cancer out") and then as soon as my child was born, I did chemo. It is an AWFUL position to be in. Don't judge.

Here is to your continued good health.

+1 I hope you stay healthy, PP.

And I have to think that this pregnancy probably wasn't your sixth child? Part of the calculus with such a decision must involve thinking about the kids born already--I can't think how adding a micro-premie to a newly single parent household of five kids helped anyone. This situation sounds like pro-life ideology stretched to an extreme, not thinking about all the lives involved.

Yes, this. The thought of the two-year-old breaks my heart. Another year or two with his or her mother would have made all the difference for this child.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found out I had cancer while pregnant. I opted for an aggressive surgery while still pregnant ("essentially cut the cancer out") and then as soon as my child was born, I did chemo. It is an AWFUL position to be in. Don't judge.

Here is to your continued good health.

+1 I hope you stay healthy, PP.

And I have to think that this pregnancy probably wasn't your sixth child? Part of the calculus with such a decision must involve thinking about the kids born already--I can't think how adding a micro-premie to a newly single parent household of five kids helped anyone. This situation sounds like pro-life ideology stretched to an extreme, not thinking about all the lives involved.

Anonymous wrote:I hate these stories and wish they'd stop publizing them.

Just more prolife fodder.

The women is not a hero.

I agree with you. I personally think she was beyond selfish to continue the pregnancy. Not only did she leave five other children without a mother, but her sixth child is more than likely going to have lifelong complications from being born so prematurely.

Anonymous wrote:I am glad she got to chose and I respect her choice. But man I feel bad for the dad. 6 kids and the preemie will most likely have health problems. That is a lot to put on one person. I hope the kids get therapy. It has gotta to hard knowing your mom died earlier due to the new baby. Because eventually the kids are going to get old enough to read this article.

Some of her kids are older -- the oldest just graduated from high school. Not sure that makes it better, but just saying.