Baby scan shocker!
But me and my baby boy both kicked my lump’s butt!
Yawning heavily, my whole body ached with exhaustion.
‘I don’t remember feeling this tired the last time,’ I moaned.
It was November 2016, and I was 12 weeks pregnant with my third.
But with Holly, then 17, and Gracie, 2, to look after, I’d no choice but to keep going.
It was soon time for my 20-week scan, and my big sister, Kaye, 48, came with me.
Only, as the sonographer scanned my tummy, she looked worried.
‘I’ve seen something on your kidney,’ she explained. ‘I need to call someone in to look.’
As she went to fetch a doctor I burst into tears.
‘What is it?’ I sobbed as the doctor took a closer look.
‘There’s a mass there,’ she told me.
But they needed to refer me for tests to find out more.
Kaye just clutched my hand, shocked.
I went home in a fog of tears and broke the news to my partner, the girls, and my mum, also called Susan, 69.
Two weeks later, I was at Guy’s Hospital, where I was given an MRI scan.
Afterwards, the consultant sat me down to tell me what they’d found. ‘It’s big,’ he said. ‘It’s very big.’ My partner and I listened in horror as the consultant said the mass was 14cm across.
The size of a melon!
It was bigger than our unborn baby boy – covered my entire right kidney.
And there was a chance it could be cancerous.
That was bad enough, but my pregnancy made it extremely complicated and I couldn’t have a biopsy to check for cancer.
‘There are options,’ the doctor explained.
The first was a termination, so that surgeons could operate and remove the tumour immediately. ‘No way,’ I cried. The next option was very scary, too, though.
I’d wait until I was far enough along to have a Caesarean.
Then surgeons would remove my kidney and the tumour at the same time. ‘OK,’ I said. I was willing to do anything I could to save our baby.
‘But if there’s any chance I can deliver naturally...’ I begged.
So I was booked in for another scan in four weeks.
The wait was excruciating and I was petrified.
What about the girls?
I thought to myself. They needed their mum. Back at hospital, four weeks on, we got some good news.
‘The mass hasn’t grown,’ the doctor smiled.
We’d have to take it step by step, have regular MRI scans.
‘But it’s a good sign,’ he reassured me.
It meant we had more time to let my baby boy grow. Still, at 28 weeks pregnant, I was really feeling the effects of the tumour.
My bump was huge, I suffered pains in my tummy, my back was in agony.
I worried about the baby, too.
‘He must feel squashed in there,’ I cried to Mum.
And at a 30-week scan, his little foot was pressed against my huge tumour.
‘He looks like he’s kicking it,’ I gasped.
Thankfully, though, our baby seemed to be growing OK.
In May 2017, at 34 weeks
We listened in horror as the doctor told us it was 14cm across
into my pregnancy, I was induced at Lewisham Hospital.
Still, it was another four days before our son, Archie, was born, weighing 5lb 6oz.
He was given antibiotics as a precaution, but was otherwise healthy. Relief surged through me. Back at home, I savoured every precious second with my newborn boy. I felt so lucky to have him in my arms.
But I still had my own health to worry about.
When Archie was four weeks old, I was admitted to Guy’s Hospital to have my right kidney and the huge tumour removed.
‘We need to get the tumour out whole in case it’s cancer,’ the specialist explained.
Surgeons planned to use a robotic arm to make several small incisions in my stomach and pull out the tumour, instead of cutting me open.
It was less invasive, and I’d recover from the procedure more quickly.
My sister Kellie, 42, looked after Gracie and Archie, as the rest of my family were by my side.
When I woke up after the six-hour surgery, I was crying in agony.
Thankfully, though, it was good news.
‘The operation was difficult but it went well,’ my specialist said.
‘The tumour was so huge it was like trying to deliver a baby,’ he added.
They’d managed to get it out in one piece. My tumour was then sent off for tests.
A few weeks later, I was back for the results.
‘It was stage-3 kidney cancer,’ the consultant said. I was horrified. I’d been growing cancer and a baby at the same time! Thankfully, though, it hadn’t spread from the tumour, so surgeons had removed it all.
So I didn’t need chemotherapy or any other follow-up treatment.
I broke down, overcome with emotion.
Horrified that I’d been carrying a giant cancerous tumour around with my baby, yet relieved that Archie was OK – that the cancer was gone.
I’d need regular checkups – but, otherwise, I was allowed to go home and carry on with my life as normal. Get on with being a mum. Now I only have one kidney, so have to watch my alcohol intake, eat healthily.
But I’m just grateful to be here with Archie and the girls.
I’d had no other cancer symptoms. So if I hadn’t fallen pregnant with Archie, doctors wouldn’t have found the tumour when they did. It could’ve been too late. Archie is 1 now and a big eater! He’s such a joy, and feels like a gift from God...
Not to mention a real lifesaver!
I could go home... Get on with being a mum!