Cancer in pregnancy is too difficult to handle and emotionally drains you. Amy Parkinson was diagnosed cancer when she was six months pregnant.
Amy Parkinson, 29 was expecting her second child but felt very weak physically. Her symptoms included bad itching which was put down to her pregnancy. Eventually, only after taking an X-ray, the news about cancer devastated her.
It rocked her world when she was 24 weeks pregnant. Hodgkin’s lymphoma was diagnosed and a tumor of 16cm had developed between her lungs, which made her uncomfortable.
Amy said, “Three of them sat down and one held my hand and said my X-ray was very concerning. They could see a tumor around half the size of my chest. It was suspected lymphoma. I said ‘are you telling me I’ve got cancer?’, they said ‘we need to determine it but we think that’s what it is’.”
Everything happened very swiftly from then on. She had her biopsy and scan to confirm cancer.
“Being told I was their main priority as a patient rather than considering the baby, that was the hardest time emotionally. It’s a massive thing to be pregnant and equally as big to be told you’ve got cancer. When it’s both, there are so many different emotions and hormones.”
Amy and her husband Andrew, 37 were told to be prepared and that the pregnancy could not continue to full term as the treatment should begin.
“I was told to prepare myself that I might not be able to continue with the pregnancy. That’s something that will be burnt into my memory forever.”
Baby Finley was born at 31 weeks.
“I was so relieved to get to that point,” Amy said.
“All I was thinking about was him and if he was safe. Knowing my body was being pumped full of poison while he was in there was so hard to get my head around. I was feeling selfish that I could be putting him at risk. They said he would be protected in my body but you can’t help but worry.”
Little Finley weighed 4lb 4oz when he was born on March 17. He was taken to an incubator within 10 minutes after he was born. After a few days he was born, Amy started on her treatment.
Amy finds it difficult to deal with when she misses spending time with her son Finley and 20-month-old son Arthur.
“I’ve got Arthur and I’ve got Fin and all I want is to be their mom. I can’t play the same with Arthur and I’ve had to give away a lot of responsibility when it comes to Fin. I couldn’t breastfeed like I did with Arthur as I’d already started the treatment and it would have been too dangerous. You go through a form of grief, you’re not able to enjoy this time with your baby and everything is tainted.”
“I have good days when I’m not in a constant state but I’ll cry over something most days and question why this happened to me. Then Arthur will do something gorgeous.”
“Cancer in pregnancy is so rare and so complex and emotionally you just don’t know where to put everything, it’s almost too big to cope with. To know there are other people that have come out the other side of this and have coped with it, I needed to see that,” said Amy.
