Over the previous 5 years, Heather David has survived the devastating loss of a kid, battled most cancers after which skilled the enjoyment of a rising household. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Well being Beat)
Heather and her husband, Zack, hadn’t totally processed the grief and trauma from the stillbirth of their first baby when Heather turned pregnant once more in early 2018. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Well being Beat)
Heather’s being pregnant appeared regular till 18 weeks into her new being pregnant. An ultrasound confirmed a 10-centimeter ovarian mass on her proper facet. She would want chemotherapy. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Well being Beat)
“It’s a extremely powerful protocol,” Leigh Seamon, DO, a gynecologic oncologist, mentioned. “The overall consensus was the routine can be too poisonous to offer throughout being pregnant.” (Chris Clark | Spectrum Well being Beat)
Heather gave beginning to Axel, a small however wholesome child who went on to obtain 55 days of care within the Gerber Basis Neonatal Heart at Helen DeVos Kids’s Hospital. (Pictures courtesy of Heather David)
As a affected person at Spectrum Well being Butterworth Hospital, Heather took each alternative she might to be together with her new child within the NICU. (Photograph courtesy of Heather David)
Visiting little Axel whereas she was present process remedy helped carry her spirits. “That form of labored out in my favor and saved me going in the course of the actually laborious days,” Heather mentioned. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Well being Beat)
Regardless of the percentages, Heather did get pregnant once more in late 2020 and she or he sailed by the being pregnant. “We joke that it was so regular it felt unsuitable,” Heather mentioned. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Well being Beat)
Child Walker made his look in June 2021, almost three years after his huge brother. As we speak each boys are wholesome and rising properly, their mother and father’ two largest presents. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Well being Beat)
“We’re doing what I name ‘experience the wave,’” Dr. Seamon mentioned, “which is, hey, every little thing’s wanting good, most cancers hasn’t returned, we’re watching it very intently.” (Chris Clark | Spectrum Well being Beat)
Heather credit her medical doctors together with her household’s very existence. “I’d belief them with my life, and I inform anyone that,” she mentioned. “I wouldn’t have my two miracle infants with out them.” (Chris Clark | Spectrum Well being Beat)
Heather nonetheless can’t imagine every little thing she and Zack have lived by since 2017. “After I sit again and discuss it generally, I’m like, ‘Wow, that basically all simply occurred to us.’” (Chris Clark | Spectrum Well being Beat)
Nothing might have ready Heather David, 28, for the highs and lows she’s confronted over the previous 5 years.
The emotional roller-coaster started in the summertime of 2017, when she and her husband, Zack, unexpectedly misplaced a baby to stillbirth at 35 weeks gestation.
The couple, from North Muskegon, Michigan, hadn’t totally processed their grief and trauma when Heather turned pregnant once more in early 2018.
Due to her earlier loss, probably linked to a clotting dysfunction she has, Heather’s native OB-GYN referred her to the Spectrum Health Maternal Fetal Medicine workforce, which manages high-risk pregnancies.
“We’re right here to information sufferers by,” mentioned Lisa Thiel, DO, a maternal fetal drugs specialist. “We’re on the identical workforce with them … and we very a lot worth {our relationships} with our sufferers.”
Ovarian tumor
Issues progressed easily for Heather till 18 weeks into her new being pregnant, when she seen one thing didn’t really feel proper. The maternal fetal drugs workforce introduced her in for an ultrasound.
The scan confirmed one thing alarming: a 10-centimeter ovarian mass on her proper facet.
Ultrasound pictures from six weeks earlier had proven no signal of the mass. And by the point Heather had an MRI per week later, the fast-growing tumor—which turned out to be a uncommon, aggressive type of ovarian cancer—had already moved out of her pelvis and into her stomach.
The 18-week ultrasound had come at simply the proper time.
“Ovarian lots develop shortly. If the mass had developed earlier than or after being pregnant, we could not have had the identical final result,” Dr. Thiel mentioned.
“The being pregnant itself helped us to determine the change on the ovary. So the timing and the being pregnant, in my thoughts, saved her life.”
Suspecting most cancers from the beginning, the maternal fetal drugs workforce launched Heather to the workforce members in gynecologic oncology on the Spectrum Health Lemmen-Holton Cancer Pavilion.
Assured they might take away the mass with out harming the growing fetus, medical doctors carried out surgical procedure on Heather in August 2018, eradicating her proper ovary together with the tumor.
The pathology confirmed a sort of small cell carcinoma of the ovary, a uncommon most cancers that carries a excessive threat of recurrence. Even for these identified within the early levels, as Heather was, long-term survival charges are solely 33%.
Therapy would contain an intense chemotherapy routine—six chemo medicine administered over the course of three days, delivered in six cycles over 4 months.
“It’s a extremely powerful protocol,” mentioned Leigh Seamon, DO, a gynecologic oncologist. “The overall consensus was the routine can be too poisonous to offer throughout being pregnant.”
The couple and their collaborative medical workforce from maternal fetal drugs and gynecologic oncology confronted a wrenching set of selections in regards to the dangers to Heather versus the dangers to their child in utero. How lengthy might she safely wait to ship earlier than receiving chemotherapy?
“I feel fight-or-flight mode initiated immediately,” Heather mentioned. “Identical to, ‘How can we save myself? How can we save this child?’”
Collectively they determined to schedule a cesarean part supply at 28 weeks—far sufficient alongside within the being pregnant to vow the newborn a powerful future, whereas hopefully quickly sufficient to maintain the most cancers from regaining a foothold.
Supply and remedy
On Oct. 3, 2018, Heather gave beginning to Axel, a small however wholesome child who went on to obtain 55 days of care within the Gerber Foundation Neonatal Center at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital.
“We misplaced our first son, and his due date was Oct. 3—after which we ended up having Axel, the miracle child, on Oct. 3 of the next 12 months,” Heather mentioned. “So (life) simply works in bizarre methods.”
Following her C-section and stomach exploration—which fortunately confirmed no proof of most cancers unfold—Heather started her chemo remedies.
As a affected person at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital, she took each alternative she might to be together with her new child within the NICU.
“I did remedy at Butterworth as an inpatient for the beginning of it, so I truly acquired to be wheeled backwards and forwards to him throughout remedy,” she mentioned.
“That form of labored out in my favor and saved me going in the course of the actually laborious days.”
On the worst days, she skilled a pointy decline in lung perform. Her oncologists eradicated the medicine they suspected to be the trigger, and she or he underwent pulmonary remedy to regain the misplaced perform.
As her remedies progressed, Heather turned to a life-giving follow: gratitude.
“I began waking up day by day and naming three issues I used to be grateful for,” she mentioned. “A few of my days had been so darkish that a kind of grateful issues could also be that I might step off the bed that morning.”
Heather turned a hopeful nook in February 2019, when her chemo ended. That’s when she and Zack might concentrate on life as new mother and father within the aftermath of most cancers.
“We simply form of went on to be taught a brand new regular of dwelling life after chemo and attempting to hope for remission,” she mentioned. “I used to be in survival mode.”
Shock being pregnant
Heather had all the time identified she’d wished extra youngsters.
However with every little thing her physique had endured, medical doctors weren’t sure whether or not she might have one other being pregnant—and, together with her unsure prognosis, whether or not they’d even advocate attempting.
“It was unknown whether or not or not she was going to regain ovarian perform,” Dr. Seamon mentioned. “Often that (chemotherapy) routine does put sufferers into menopause.”
However regardless of the percentages, Heather did get pregnant once more, in late 2020.
The maternal fetal drugs workforce saved an additional shut eye on her all through this third being pregnant, and she or he sailed by it with out main points.
“We joke that it was so regular it felt unsuitable,” Heather mentioned.
Child Walker made his look in June 2021, almost three years after his huge brother.
As we speak each boys are wholesome and rising properly, their mother and father’ two largest presents.
Three-year mark
February 2022 marked three years put up remedy for Heather, and she or he stays most cancers free.
“Every scan is a landmark. The additional out you get, the much less probably it’s to come back again,” Dr. Seamon mentioned. “So we’re feeling actually good about it proper now. We’re doing what I name ‘experience the wave,’ which is, hey, every little thing’s wanting good, most cancers hasn’t returned, we’re watching it very intently.
“I’m hesitant to say that she’s cured … however actually the very best threat of recurrence is inside the first two to a few years.”
Drs. Seamon and Thiel each use the phrases “bravery” and “inspiration” once they mirror on Heather’s journey.
“She was simply such a light-weight to all people else round her. She simply saved combating for her child and her household, and all the time was simply actually optimistic about her well being,” Dr. Thiel mentioned.
“How she’s overcome a lot is de facto, actually vital, and her pleasure is de facto apparent.”
Heather credit the maternal fetal drugs and gynecologic oncology groups together with her household’s very existence.
“I’d belief them with my life, and I inform anyone that,” she mentioned. “I wouldn’t have my two miracle infants with out them.”
She additionally treasures the assist of her husband, who’s been at her facet for the previous 12 years.
“He was doing double responsibility for a NICU preemie child and a sick spouse with most cancers,” she mentioned.
“Therapy is difficult. Infants are laborious. However he survived each, and we ended up stronger than ever, so I’m simply blessed to have a life companion who by no means gave in.”
Her associates within the Mona Shores Excessive Faculty group, the place she works as a cheer coach, offered an extra supply of encouragement.
“They rallied and supported me by your entire factor. They allowed me to teach that total season on chemo,” she mentioned. In addition they held a fundraiser for her.
“Having your tribe of individuals, whether or not that be one or two folks or (an) total group, for those who select to share your journey—it makes an enormous distinction.”
Heather nonetheless shakes her head when she tries to grasp every little thing she and Zack have lived by since 2017.
“After I sit again and discuss it generally, I’m like, ‘Wow, that basically all simply occurred to us,’” she mentioned.
“We’ve our very laborious days, however we simply suppose again on what we’ve been by and that we’re blessed to have them.”
