Mum opens up on going through chemotherapy at Edinburgh hospital while pregnant
| Published date | 20 April 2024 |
| Author | Ruth Suter |
| Publication title | EdinburghLive (Scotland) |
It was the height of the pandemic when she had surgery to remove her tumour, which doctors said was the size of a grapefruit. Following the operation, Shannon hoped to have put cancer behind her.
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In March last year, after feeling breathless and constantly exhausted, more tests showed the disease had spread to Shannon's right lung.
It was as Shannon struggled to come to terms with the news that the oncologist, from Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, called her with the results of a blood test which stopped her in her tracks.
Shannon, from Broughty Ferry in Angus, said: "I was three weeks pregnant. It felt like everything collapsed around me. I was happy because I was pregnant but I was also devastated. It was a time of so many mixed emotions. I desperately wanted to have this baby but felt instantly protective of it. I didn't want to do anything that would put the health of the baby at risk."
Shannon was 16 weeks pregnant when she underwent gruelling rounds of chemotherapy and further surgery at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
She continued: "I was terrified of harming my baby and nearly turned my back on surgery altogether due to my worries that it could put the baby at risk. Would my baby survive the surgery, get through a general anaesthetic with me? I burst into tears and I wanted to go home. I came so close to walking away from that ward but luckily the anaesthetist reassured me that it was going to be okay and I went ahead.
"Surgeons removed around a third of my lung. I woke up after the operation in excruciating pain but refused any painkiller but paracetamol. My first question was about my baby. It was a relief when the medical team did an ultrasound and I could hear my baby's heart beating."
But further tests showed the cancer had spread to her spine, pelvic bone, lymph node and a 5cm mass next to her right kidney. Doctors explained the cancer was now stage four. Shannon had her first chemotherapy session at 31 weeks pregnant.
Shannon said: "I had to start chemotherapy while pregnant urgently or my baby and I might have both passed away. I asked my doctors if I could have a...
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