A 37-year-old pregnant woman sacrifices her life to brain cancer while saving her unborn fetus from chemotherapy!
Carrie DeKlyen, a 37-year-old woman, presented with complaints of intractable and intolerable headaches and vomiting. After a series of investigations and evaluations, the doctors diagnosed her with glioblastoma, a brain cancer. The mass was surgically removed. Soon after the patient got pregnant with her sixth child, and unfortunately, not much later, she learned that her tumor had returned. Pregnancy and brain cancer, that too an aggressive brain tumor required tough decisions from the mother.
The patient preferred saving her pregnancy over getting chemotherapy for her cancer. She refused all the treatments due to their contraindications in the pregnancy to save her sixth child.
The patient’s condition deteriorated over time and her doctors performed a second surgery to excise the recurrent tumor. Thereafter, she suffered a stroke with residual ischemic brain damage.
Thereafter, she suffered another stroke warranting mechanical support as the patient had become unconcious.
Between pregnancy and her brain cancer, the patient’s priority was her baby so to honor her wish, she was kept on artificial life support till the pregnancy reaches its maturity. The aim was to let the baby grow enough to support outside the womb. In such situations, it is near impossible for a fetus to reach full term.
Ultimately, a baby girl was born via a cesarean section before the completion of the 25th week. The baby weighed a little above 1 pound.
Unfortunately, the mother passed away soon after. The baby could only live for 14 days in this world before she also succumbed to death.
Glioblastoma is a rapidly growing tumor of the glial cells, i.e., astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, of the brain. It is an aggressive and devastating tumor with a high recurrence and a high mortality rate. Prolonging the survival or making survival comfortable enough are the aims of the treatment modalities.
