Breast cancer survivor reveals motherhood against all the odds

AT THE age of 32, Leanne Hugglestone was diagnosed with breast cancer and warned she may never be able to have children after going through chemotherapy.

Although she had not considered starting a family before, it was at that moment she realised she desperately wanted to become a mum and had to make some quick decisions.

“If you go through breast cancer at a young age, that doesn’t mean you have to give up hope of having kids,” said Leanne, who lives in Cardiff.

Eight years on from her diagnosis, she is now proud mum to three-yearold Thea and pregnant with her second “miracle” baby.

Leanne was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2012, following a cautionary check-up based on her family history. She felt a pea-sized lump in her left breast and was sent to the University Hospital Llandough for a biopsy.

Leanne described herself as more practical than emotional and went to the appointment armed with a flow chart. The hardest part was breaking the news to her family, she said.

“It was quite overwhelming,” she recalled. “Within 24 hours I was told I had cancer and asked: ‘Have you thought about having children?’ I had to make the decision very quickly.

“I come from a big family and I’m used to having kids around. When they told me I might not be able to have children, I realised I did want to start my own family.”

Leanne was warned treatments like chemotherapy could affect her ability to become pregnant and she decided to have her eggs frozen. She went to an IVF clinic following her lumpectomy and fertility specialists managed to collect and freeze three of her eggs, following injections to stimulate her body’s egg production.

Despite successful chemotherapy and radiotherapy, treatment, Leanne was told she had an 80% chance of recurrence as her grandmother had died from cancer aged 39.

In 2015 she went through two rounds of IVF at the Wales Fertility Institute using her frozen eggs and a sperm donation from America, but they were unsuccessful.

“After two attempts failed, I thought that was the end,” she recalled. “I was disappointed, but I didn’t give up.”

She then had IUI treatment in February 2016, after being given fertility drugs to increase her chances of conceiving. The third treatment used her own eggs, as her fertility began to improve.

Leanne went for a follow-up appointment on February 16, 2016 – her 36th birthday – and was told she was pregnant.

“It was the best birthday present I could have asked for,” she smiled. Leanne went for a six-week scan and saw her baby for the first time.

“It was a bit surreal, I couldn’t believe it. I could see this tiny thing, no bigger than a kidney bean, with a heartbeat.”

Leanne started to decorate a nursery at her home in Heath, Cardiff with a helping hand from her dad.

Thea Cerys Hope was born weighing 5lb 8oz at the University Hospital of Wales on October 28 2016, at 12.22am – during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.