Laura Corfield was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer when she was 22 weeks pregnant.
The 35-year-old mother felt something was wrong and experienced stomach pain and discomfort beyond the typical morning sickness.
At first, doctors thought it was a normal part of pregnancy, but soon they found a cancerous tumor blocking her intestines.
“[The doctor] just came out with it. It was just a standard day for us and I was in total disbelief,” she told Yahoo News Australia. “They said it was aggressive and really advanced. They used all those words you don’t want to hear at that moment.”
Further testing showed the cancer had spread into the bowel wall, making it advanced. Radiation treatment was a “hands down no,” Laura said, due to the risk it posed to her preborn son.
The only option was to deliver the baby early, but he might not survive.
“They told us having a baby before 28 weeks would mean only a 50 percent chance of survival and a 75 percent chance of him having a neurological disorder,” she told The Courier Mail. “He would be born not breathing and they’d have to resuscitate him… if that’s what we wanted.”
“There was a real possibility of us losing our baby and lots of tears between us both. We were trying to focus on just getting through it but it was a juggling act of how do we keep us both alive and well. Choosing between me and the baby came up just once. My husband said ‘I will always choose you.’ I wasn’t as agreeable.”
The Corfields decided to wait until 30 weeks to deliver and then begin radiation after the baby was born. In the meantime, Corfield began chemotherapy while pregnant.
The road ahead will be difficult for Laura, especially since she also has a toddler at home.
“The chemo will get worse. It’s daunting to have another baby while so sick and I’m nervous about doing radiation with a newborn. Juggling looking after a [preemie]baby, having a toddler, radiation, and a surgery to remove the tumor is terrifying to me. The guilt of having chemo and all of these invasive scans and tests while pregnant has also been eating away at me. But I’m just telling myself it’s going to be okay and trying to live one day at a time. I’m so grateful for my life and my family and friends. This has really put everything into perspective.”
However, she is determined to grow old with her husband, watch her babies grow up, and make a million more memories with everyone she loves.
Join us in praying for Laura, her preborn son, and the entire Corfield family.
