BBC News covered the touching tale of Ms Heidi Loughlin, who found out she had inflammatory breast cancer when she was 13 weeks pregnant.
The presence of cancer had doctors giving her the option of terminating the pregnancy so that they can start treatment with aggressive chemotherapy. Despite the additional risks involved, the mother of two decided to have the less aggressive chemotherapy so that her baby would get the best possible chance of survival.
Little Ally Louise Smith proved that the decision was the right one. Born by Caesarean section on Friday, 11th December, Loughlin’s daughter weighed 1.04 kg at birth.
Loughlin gave birth 12 weeks early, after being told that she needed to bring her treatment forward when the earlier treatment failed.
Despite the early pregnancy, the 33-year-old mum told BBC that Ally was “doing amazingly well”. She added that, she wishes to be able to be with her daughter in March, when the baby comes home and her own chemotherapy will be over.
Loughlin, a Metropolitan Police officer, from Portishead, a coastal town near Bristol, said about her daugher”It’s almost like lifting a piece of toast, that’s how tiny she feels.” and exclaimed that “She came out crying, which we really didn’t expect because she is so little.”
“She is worth every second of it.”
The mum is due to start chemotherapy on 23 December, if she has recovered sufficiently from the C-Section. Her drive to see her daughter has the mum looking forward to getting the treatment over so that she can go back to a normal life.
Her greatest fear?
“The bit that I’m dreading the most is going home for the first time and leaving her here… I’m dreading that part of it.”
theAsianParent team wishes Loughlin and her baby daughter all the best! Do leave your own comments on the article below.
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