Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
A special Mother’s Day
Dealing with cancer while pregnant, woman’s spirits lifted by the life inside her
It’s a Tuesday late in April and Melissa Gormley sits in a recliner, cherishing the bumps and kicks from her baby, growing inside her womb.
As minutes crawl into hours, the sign of life is a welcomed distraction from the taxol and carboplatin streaming through her veins.
Gormley, 31, is not alone, surrounded by other patients in a room full of recliners and IVs, as she sits through her first chemotherapy session. The cancerous tumor on her cervix threatens to deny her a full motherhood experience, and even though her first pregnancy was not planned
As minutes crawl into hours, the sign of life is a welcomed distraction from the taxol and carboplatin streaming through her veins.
nor expected, Gormley’s motherly instincts are already sharpened and she is prepared to fight.
“There are definitely times where I break down crying,” Gormley said. “It’s scary thinking about all the what ifs. Like, what if it doesn’t work? What if something happens during delivery? All of those thoughts go through your head. She’s moving a lot now, so every time we have that I just think, we’re doing all this so she’s healthy, so I’m healthy, so I can be there for her. That kind of helps me get through it.”
How they met
Gormley met Dave Good 13 months ago, during training for their serving jobs at World of Beer in Exton. An unassuming beginning led to a spontaneous six-hour first date which led to a relationship.
“She was so shy and she had this nervous laugh,” Good recalls. “She’s obviously beautiful, but at first I thought she might be a little ditzy.”
Just after New Year’s, the couple received the most life-changing of all surprises: Gormley was pregnant.
“We were both kind of like, ‘what?!,’” she said.
Shock transformed into excitement, and at 14 weeks the pair found out they’d be having a girl.
That same night, Gormley experienced some light bleeding, which prompted a trip to the doctor, and eventually a biopsy.
Every day that passed, every time the phone rang, tension and urgency built, magnified by the little life inside.
“We were so excited and were finally over the shock of ‘we’re pregnant,’” Good said. “We were finally starting to be like, ‘this is awesome, we’re going to be able to start our life together’ and then we get this news and we wondered, what does that mean for our new life? Did it mean it couldn’t happen anymore? Can we still have the baby? Is Melissa going to be OK? That was hard for me because it put a halt on everything.”
When Gormley finally got a voicemail from Dr. Alan Askinas’ personal cell phone, she didn’t want to call back. There was little that could soften the blow of the news: cervical cancer.
“I was in shock at that point,” Gormley said. “I kind of mentally prepared myself that I might not get the news I wanted, but it was still very hard hearing that.”
The process to recovery began, but Gormley’s case was not only rare, but a bit more challenging, timelinewise. Had Gormley been early into her pregnancy, terminating it may have been a recommended route. Discovery in the third trimester could have allowed for some wiggle room on the start of treatment.
Gormley was smack-dab in the middle of her pregnancy, leaving her with really only one choice.
“Ending the pregnancy was not an option for me,” Gormely said. “I knew that right from the beginning. Even if they were like ‘we can’t do anything for you,’ I would’ve waited. I was really just concerned for her.”
Friends and family searched for the right response in an avalanche of unknown.
“It was heartbreaking,” said Sharon Good, Dave’s mother. “To go from such a high of knowing I was going to be a grandmother to hearing she has cancer, it broke my heart. Whoever thought a pregnant woman could have chemo, but when I heard that I said, ‘OK, we’re gonna fight this.’ There’s nothing else to do.”
A viable option
Miriam Adamo remembers her daughter as a “strong and resilient” young girl. They were characteristics Adamo worked to instill in Melissa and her younger sister, Laura, through their youth.
Traits that no doubt challenged Adamo as a younger mother are now badges of pride as she watches Gormley take on pregnancy and cancer with grace.
“Melissa is sweet and gentle, but she’s very much, ‘I can do this,’” Adamo said. “She perseveres and pushes on and I’m so proud of how she’s dealt with this.”
With more and more information out there, chemotherapy while pregnant is a viable option. Gormley will have her second chemo session Tuesday and another three weeks after. Following that, she’ll undergo another MRI to check the progress. If the tumor has been reduced, Gormley will go for a fourth session. If progress is minimal, the plan is to deliver the baby through caesarean section around 30 weeks and then surgically remove the tumor.
Needless to say, when baby Olivia makes her arrival to the world, she will be a beacon of joy and of hope and of gratefulness.
“Dave kept saying I don’t ever want to call her princess, I want to call her our superhero, but now she really is our superhero,” Gormley said. “If it wasn’t for her, who knows what would have happened to me.”
Doctors are classifying the cancer as stage one, though the pregnancy muddies the exact diagnosis at this point. It’s impossible to know if the presence of Olivia expedited the symptoms, but there’s no doubt she’s a source of strength for everyone involved.
“If we’re feeling sad about something, we’re like, ‘do you want to listen to the heartbeat,’ and it helps us feel better,” said Dave, who takes advantage of their fetal doppler at home.
Olivia has developed on schedule, and if she remains an only child — it’s unknown if Gormley will be able to get pregnant again after the potential procedures following delivery — Olivia will be as spoiled a granddaughter as there ever has been.
“First of all, I grew up with three brothers and I have four sons, and now I find out I’m having a granddaughter. I’m so excited,” Sharon said. “I get something in the mail every day that I ordered for her. Not a day goes by that I don’t order something for her. I can’t wait for this little girl and for everything to be behind us so we can just enjoy everybody.”
Moving in together
If one knows Dave, even just a little bit, it’s evident he has the gift of humor. Whether it comes in the form of a wedding reception dance-off or a killer Enrique Iglesias cover at karaoke, Dave’s persona is obvious.
It’s one of the things that drew Gormely to him and it’s one of the things she adores in her time of need.
Dave plays dumb when mentioning that Olivia Madeline Good’s initials will be OMG was not intentional. He thinks Liv Good has a better ring to it than Livestrong, and he can’t quite deny the irony of his daughter’s new potential birthdate. September 10 was the original due date, but with the advanced delivery slated for mid July, Olivia’s zodiac sign could very well be, you guessed it: cancer.
“I think this has shown both of us a different side of each other that probably we wouldn’t have seen,” Gormley said. “Dave’s just so supportive and so great about helping me with whatever I need. If I’m upset he’s just there.”
The duo recently moved into a place in Phoenixville together as part of the plan before the cancer showed up. The goal is to finish what they started, staying together, as a family, to raise Olivia and get and remain healthy.
Dave’s initial assessment of Gormley may have been off, but he’s smart enough to know when he has something good.
“She’s amazing,” Dave said. “She’s been so good through this and I’m so proud of her. I don’t think a lot of people would be able to handle this the way she has. It’s almost like she comes secondary, all the time, and she’s not thinking about herself. I’m just really proud and happy I found somebody like that. Even through a situation as horrible as this, if she can be this strong and amazing through this, everything else is gonna be a piece of cake.”