Selfless mum died to save life of unborn baby
CANCER TREATMENT DELAYED
Reporter A BRAVE mum who chose her unborn baby over treatment for a rare form of cancer “always put her family first”.
Courageous Tracey Keers managed to spend precious time with tiny daughter Kyla, and married the love of her life, partner Steven, while she was in hospital.
Tracey, nee Brown, survived breast cancer and, even though she and Steven had started IVF treatment, she fell pregnant naturally in September.
But, 24 weeks into her pregnancy, the couple, who have a son Kieran, seven, were told the shattering news that cancerous cells had spread to her central nervous system – and the diagnosis was termi- nal. Seeking a second opinion, Tracey was told there was one possible treatment – but that could only be done once her baby had been born.
Tracey, 33, decided to continue the pregnancy and Kyla was born weighing just 2lb at 28 weeks, on March 19.
“She literally sacrificed herself for the baby,” said Steven, 35. “She could have had the treatment, then who knows what would have happened.”
Devastatingly, after recovering from the birth, Tracey was now too ill to receive the complicated chemotherapy she needed.
It was then the couple decided to get married and, looking beautiful in a wedding dress in the day room at James Cook University Hospital, decorated by friends and family, she tied the knot on March 30.
Her determination and love for her family in her final weeks allowed Tracey to marry and hold her tiny daughter, who suffered a collapsed lung but is now recovering in the hospital’s neo-natal unit.
But after her condition worsened, Tracey died last Sunday in the arms of her husband.
Steven, who stayed with Tracey every night in hospital, said: “I put her into my arms and her breathing slowed down and she just went peacefully.
“They always say people choose their time to go. I don’t know if she just wanted me to be there. I’m so glad she went peacefully.”
Steven said he and Tracey, who had known each other since their days at Brierton School in Hartlepool and were together for 10 years, “just loved family time”.
“She absolutely loved planning holidays, days out. She convinced her mam to buy a caravan near Thirsk and that was where she was happiest, going with Kieran and the family. She told me I still have to take him there.”
The couple, who lived in Seaton Carew, always knew they wanted more children but weren’t sure whether they could after Tracey’s breast cancer all-clear, so were overjoyed when they found out in September they would be parents for a second time.
“It means the world that Tracey got to meet Kyla,” continued Steven. “She said even if she did not make it, she wanted to see her baby and hold her.
“Her sight had actually gone in one eye due to the cancer, it had turned inward, but when the doctors examined her they told her they could see her optic nerve. It was a miracle and she got to look at Kyla.”
Steven also described how telling son Kieran his mum had died was “the hardest thing he’s ever had to do”.
“He asks questions and he’s asked us about heaven, but sometimes he goes up to his bedroom and just lays on his bed quietly.
“It’s hard for me, so I can’t imagine what it’s like for a seven-yearold.” Steven said he’d told Kieran Tracey Keers saved the life of her unborn daughter by delaying treatment until she was born, and got married in hospital after giving birth that whenever he wanted to talk to his mum, she would always be listening.
And he also said that the day after Tracey died, he noticed a white feather on his car door handle – he believes that was a sign from Tracey.
The night she died, a distant family relative was also at the hospital with Steven. She went for a walk in the Cleveland Hills the next day and watched a cloud form in front of her eyes, turning into the shape of an arrow pointing into the sky.
Tracey’s funeral will be held on Thursday, April 19, at 1.30pm at Holy Trinity Church in Seaton Carew, and all are welcome.
She will be taken to the church in
a horse-drawn carriage and balloons will be released on the seafront. Mourners are asked to wear pink or purple, and her beloved pet dog will also be attending the service. Donations to the neonatal unit at James Cook University Hospital can be made in lieu of flowers.
And, in what is set to be an incredibly emotional moment, words she’d written about her death on her mobile phone – which included a letter to Kieran – will be read at the funeral.
She also set up her own fundraising pages – to help pay for their wedding (www.gofundme. com/59rbv4w) and her own funeral www.gofundme.com/59rkwkw) to ease the pressure on her devastated family.
Tracey was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, one of the rarest forms of the disease, in 2016, and after a mastectomy was given the all-clear in July 2017.
But in January, after her 20-week scan, she came down with bad sickness and headaches, believing it was hyperemesis – pregnancy morning sickness.
She was given anti-sickness tablets, but when it continued, and worried about her breast cancer, she went for more tests. Head and chest scans came back all clear, but spinal fluid samples from a lumbar puncture revealed the worst.
Tracey was diagnosed with leptomeningeal carcinomatosis – a rare complication of cancer in which the disease spreads to the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord – and was given three to six months to live.
She was offered a Caesarean section at 24 weeks pregnant, but decided to keep on going to ensure Kyla would be as healthy as she could be when she was born.
Journalism graduate Tracey was a national event co-ordinator for Durham University, a stressful job, and she cut her hours to part time after her breast cancer scare.
“That changed her outlook completely,” said Steven. “She wanted to spend more time with her family and Kieran. Family was what was important, not money, but spending time together.” STEVEN KEERS