A local newspaper in Georgia carries the moving story about a mom who rejected abortion when confronted at 12 weeks of pregnancy with the news that she had breast cancer. Meg Booth, 38, found both the pregnancy and breast cancer unexpected.
Earlier last year, Meg Booth’s family had consisted of husband Jeff and children, Hannah, then 11, and Nathan, 5.
“We struggled with infertility to have our first two children,” Meg said. “So it was a huge, huge surprise to find out I was pregnant on Oct. 29, 2011.
“I had gone to the emergency room at Smith-Northview at 4 o’clock in the morning because I thought I had a stomach virus. After questions and bloodwork, the doctor came in and said, ‘I think congratulations are in order. You’re pregnant.’ I about died.”
“My original thought was ‘what about the baby?’ I was 12 weeks when I got the diagnosis in December.”
“I didn’t want to wear a wig because I wanted it to be as least traumatizing for the children as possible. At one point when I lost my hair, my son, then 5, asked if that would hurt the baby. We talked to him and told him no, that she would be fine because we had faith that God was going to take care of our family and our unborn daughter.”
Meg said her concern when she heard the diagnosis last December had been if the chemo would hurt the baby. She said Dr. Retterbush told her, “We will do what we have to do to take care of you first, and then we will see what happens.”
“Of course, my response was ‘This baby God has given, and this baby God will take care of.’”
Meg was given two kinds of chemotherapy drugs mixed with anti-nausea medication, and took additional anti-nausea medicine at home — Zofran and Phenergan — which are not harmful to a baby in utero, she said.
Meg’s story confirms what research has shown: women who are pregnant and battling breast cancer don’t need to have an abortion.
