Mother forced to choose between her own life and unborn baby after deadly cancer diagnosis
A Victorian mother has been put in the agonising position of making the choice between her own life, and that of her unborn baby.
Laura Schram was diagnosed with deadly stomach cancer just before Christmas.
She was told at 20-weeks pregnant that she would need to jeopardise her baby’s chance of survival, to ensure her own.
Now at 28-weeks, Ms Schram has the glow of an excited, bubbly expectant mum.
But behind the scenes her world is in turmoil.
“I just was going to burst into tears every second,” she told 7 News.
Ms Schram’s cancer is the result of the rare CDH1 gene.
“It's quite hard to find, so the fact that they found it twice in two gastroscopes wasn't good,” she said.
The only cure is for surgeons to remove Ms Schram’s stomach, an operation her baby wouldn't survive.
It’s left Ms Schram with the horrible decision, whether to risk her own life to save her baby.
The 27-year-old made the brave decision to postpone her surgery for three months, she has four weeks left to wait.
She will be induced at 32 weeks and spend six precious days with her child, before heading back into hospital for the operation.
The surgery won’t end there either, the gene also significantly increases Ms Schram’s chance of breast cancer.
Once she’s recovered from her operation she will return to undergo a double mastectomy.
“I don’t want to be told I have cancer again,” she said.
“I’m hoping I’ve made the right decision for both of us.”
News break - February 10
