It was such a joy when Heidi Loughlin found out that she was pregnant. But this story does not have a beautiful ending to it.

Heidi was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer after knowing she was pregnant with her third child. According to The Guardian, “She was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer in September after noticing a rash on her breast while breastfeeding her baby son, Tait.”

She must go for chemotherapy or she may lose her life. But no parent will want to give us their precious baby, that was exactly how Heidi felt. Even with pressure from the Doctors, she did not terminate her pregnancy. Instead of going on an aggressive form of chemotherapy, Heidi opt for a less aggressive form of chemotherapy to keep the cancer at bay.

However, the treatment failed. Doctors urged her to undergo intensive chemotherapy to save her life but that means, it will put her baby’s health at risk. The only option was to deliver her baby prematurely so that both of them have chances of surviving this ordeal. Heidi delivered to her baby 12 weeks early and named her Ally Louise Smith.

Ally was born successfully through cesarean section. She was stoked to meet her newborn. Unfortunately, baby Ally passed on eight days later.

It was a devastating moment for Heidi and her family. She documents her journey on her blog. In one of her post, Heidi wrote about the fear of delivering to her daughter prematurely,

“Also what is terrifying is that if I stay pregnant until New Year’s Eve as originally planned then there’s a pretty good chance I’ve missed my window of potential cure,”

“But I’m scared to my core about a baby born so early. I am also scared that I may not get through this. Mostly I’m scared of doing the wrong thing.”

Heidi has raised more than £15,000 for Cots for Tots, a charity supporting the special care baby unit at St Michael’s Hospital in Bristol. 

We hope Heidi will stay strong for her family, especially to her two young children.

By Crystal Tan | Source: The Guardian