My baby gave me cancer: Mother beats rare illness that was triggered during pregnancy
- Helen Conway, 38, developed choriocarcinoma expecting Amelia, now two
- The rare cancer develops in the placenta during pregnancy
- Ilness was discovered when her daughter was nine months old
By EMILY COPE and DAVID WILKES
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But after the birth of daughter Amelia, her joy was shattered when it emerged she had developed a rare form of cancer that only occurs during pregnancy.
Miss Conway, a consultant for a bank, was diagnosed with choriocarcinoma which affects fewer than 20 women a year in the UK.
Back in her arms: Helen Conway, 38, from Halifax, West Yorkshire, overcame a rare type of cancer while she was pregnant with her daughter Amelia, now two
It develops in the placenta when cells that were part of a normal pregnancy become cancerous and spread to other parts of the body.
The cause is not known and it can develop months or even years after pregnancy, making it difficult to diagnose.
‘I don’t think any woman considers that cancer might be a risk of pregnancy,’ said Miss Conway, 38, of Halifax, West Yorkshire.
Shock: Miss Conway pictured during her chemotherapy treatment in March 2012
‘It was terrifying. I’d just brought a baby into the world and I feared what would happen to her if I didn’t beat it.’
The cancer was only spotted nine months after Miss Conway gave birth when she began coughing blood.
It took four months of chemotherapy before she was given the all-clear.
‘Hearing that you have cancer must always be terrifying, but I would definitely consider getting pregnant again because the cancer is so rare and you should never let anything hold you back.
'The pregnancy left me with my lovely daughter Amelia so I don’t regret anything.’
Amelia, now aged two, was born healthy in December 2010, having been conceived naturally with Miss Conway’s former partner.
But the new mother experienced bleeding for six months after the birth, then in April 2011 took a pregnancy test which came back positive.
She went for a scan which showed there was no pregnancy and, because of the continued bleeding, she presumed she had suffered a miscarriage.
Unbeknown to her, the cancer caused her body to release the HCG hormone, which made the pregnancy test positive.
Six months later she started to cough up blood. After visiting her doctor, she was told it was probably just a burst blood vessel.
When her coughing got worse, she went to the out of hours doctor at the hospital, who referred her for a chest x-ray. The results revealed she had black spots on her lungs.
Illness: Miss Conway, pictured while pregnant, discovered she had cancer when Amelia, pictured aged one month, was only nine months old
Green days: Miss Conway was given the all clear in January 2012, four moths after she was diagnosed with the rare cancer
‘I was terrified it would be lung cancer. It’s all I could think about and I was worried about Amelia. I didn’t want her to grow up without a mother,’ she said.
She was diagnosed in September 2011, and the cancer had spread to her liver and lungs.
She said: ‘I was diagnosed when Amelia was less than a year old and as the consultant delivered the devastating news thoughts flashed through my mind of what would happen if the cancer was terminal.
‘I was completely shocked when I heard my cancer had been caused by my pregnancy. However, I tried to look on the bright side.’
Because the cancer is so rare, treatment was only available in three hospitals in the UK.
She had to travel 50 miles to Weston Park Hospital in Sheffield to undergo chemotherapy for two nights every fortnight.
Miss Conway was given the all-clear in January 2012. ‘I’m so relieved, now I have time to focus on my daughter and move on with my life,’ she added.
A Cancer Research UK spokesman said: ‘More than 90 per cent of women diagnosed with choriocarcinoma make a full recovery.
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