Thread by NYer.
‘She was worth it’: UK mom delayed leukemia treatment to save life of unborn daughter
Victoria Webster with her husband and two children, including daughter Jessica who is alive today because of Victoria's sacrificial heroism.
BIRMINGHAM, UK, February 17, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - One British cancer patient has sent a powerful message about the value of life after she refused aggressive treatment for her leukemia in an effort to save the life of her unborn daughter – who was, in fact, born perfectly healthy last April.
“My doctor told me I needed to make a choice and decide whether I should keep my baby. To me, there was no decision to make,” Victoria Webster, 33, told the UK’s Daily Mail. “I had already bonded with my baby while she was growing inside me and as her mum, I had to protect her.
“Doctors kept telling me I should have a termination - but I had made up my mind, and my husband Martyn supported me.”
Webster had discovered that she suffered from chronic myeloid leukaemia, or cancer of the blood, during a routine blood test when she was 21 weeks pregnant. Doctors, who said her prognosis was good because they caught the disease so early, begged her to begin chemotherapy immediately, a treatment that would have killed her unborn daughter Jessica.
Webster instead opted for a less aggressive treatment, and waited until Jessica was born in April 2010 by Cesarean section before taking the powerful drugs. She is now reportedly responding well to treatment, and she hopes that she will soon be in full remission.
“It’s the best decision I have ever made. I can’t imagine my life without my daughter,” said Webster.
“I was terrified that even my milder treatment would have harmed Jessica, but luckily, she was perfect,” she said.
“We bonded straight away - holding her in my arms was truly an amazing moment.”
The mom from Birmingham, who also has a four-year-old son Lewis, said that when she was first told she had cancer, “bizarrely, my first feeling was one of relief.” “I thought they were going to tell me that there was something wrong with my baby,” she told the Mail. “It wasn’t until a few days later when it really hit me. ‘I was terrified that my son would have to grow up without his mummy.”