A woman battling cancer has given birth to four healthy babies, and she's preparing to go back to chemo once more.
'You think you’ve beat it the first time'
Back in January of 2016, Kayla and her husband Sgt. Charles Gaytan received news that Kayla had Hodgkin's lymphoma. Which thankfully, was already in remission by the time the couple found out that they were going to have children.
However, a month before she was due to give birth to the quadruplets, the unthinkable happened, and Kayla's cancer came back.
Kayle shares, "You think you’ve beat it the first time. When it comes back, you’re just wondering, why get pregnant with these four babies and then, you know, something like this happens."
She has a 50% chance of survival
The babies were delivered prematurely, at only 30 weeks. The heaviest of the quadruplets weighed only 3 pounds and 2 ounces, but all of them were healthy.
The quadruplets will be staying in the NICU or neonatal intensive care unit for six weeks. Meanwhile their mum is set to resume chemotherapy treatment within the next two weeks. Doctors said that she has a 50% chance of surviving the next five years.
"We know that (God has) got to have a different plan up there for us, and surely everything’s going to work out in the end," Kayla says.
Birth and cancer: How common is cancer during pregnancy?
Thankfully, cancer during pregnancy is relatively uncommon. For a number of years, it was extremely difficult to deal with cancer for pregnant women, but through the advances made in modern medicine, treatment during pregnancy is now possible.
Additionally, cancer rarely affects the growing baby, so there's no need to worry about the baby's health if the mother has cancer. The problem, however, is that having cancer creates a lot of problems for the pregnant mother as well as the team that's treating her.
What types of cancer occur during pregnancy?
For the most part, the most common types of cancer that occur during pregnancy are the following:
- Cervical cancer
- Breast cancer
- Hodgkin's lymphoma
- Thyroid cancer
- Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
- Melanoma
- Gestational trophoblastic tumor
Diagnosing cancer during pregnancy can also prove to be difficult. In some cases, the symptoms of cancer are similar to the symptoms encountered during pregnancy. In other cases, being pregnant can uncover cancer, such as when an ultrasound can help discover ovarian cancer.
What can be done for cancer during pregnancy?
The good thing is that with the advanced treatment available for pregnant women, cancer can be treated during pregnancy.
Usually, surgery is done by specialists in order to remove the affected tissue from the mother. This is usually the safest way to treat cancer in pregnant women since it poses very little risk to the baby.
In other cases, chemotherapy can also be used to treat cancer in pregnant women. However, there is a risk if chemotherapy is introduced within the first three months of pregnancy as it can cause birth defects or even pregnancy loss.
As always, the best thing to do would be to consult your doctor about it as they would best be able to know which treatment is best for you.
Source: dailymail.co.uk, cancer.net
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