Tasha Trafford was first diagnosed with bone cancer in December 2012 and she suffers from a rare and virulent form of bone cancer. Last Fall, her scans came back clear and the nurse went back to work.
But, Trafford received devastating news that her cancer returned from remission when she was 16 weeks pregnant. The 33-year-old who married in 2012, heard from her doctors: “It’s you or your baby.” Trafford had to decide whether to save her own life with chemo or have an abortion. The mom-to-be refused chemotherapy and radiotherapy until birth and refused the abortion doctors said would give her the best chance to live in order to give her baby a chance at life.
Trafford decided to keep baby Cooper and risk her own life and she’s glad she did. Cooper was born healthy.
Before his birth, Trafford made her views crystal clear:
‘Doctors were blunt. They said, ‘What are you going to do? It’s you or your baby’,’ says Tasha, an A&E nurse, who is now five months pregnant.
‘But living a life without ever knowing the joy of becoming a mum wasn’t an option for me. And while I know refusing chemo until the baby is born is a big risk, doing anything that might harm my unborn baby would be unthinkable.’
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Now, she’s even more happy she made the decision she did. Here’s the rest of the story from the London Daily Mail newspaper:
As soon as the midwife handed me my baby we had a lovely cuddle,’ she says. ‘Jon gave me a kiss and said, “He’s perfect.” My mum and dad, proud grandparents for the first time, were there with us, Dad taking dozens of photos. Our baby was surrounded by love.
‘It was amazing to think something so wonderful had been growing inside me as well as something as horrible as cancer. Cooper is our little miracle.
‘I always understood the risks to my own health in having him, but I never had a flicker of doubt that I was doing the right thing. I longed to be a mum and the knowledge that I would be, kept me going through my pregnancy, despite all the pain and fear.
‘I’m stubborn. I told myself I would deal with the consequences when I had to. Now I’m looking ahead hopefully, and in January I start chemotherapy again. But whatever’s in store, I’ll just face it knowing that Cooper could not be more loved, and that even if I’m not around, a part of Jon and me will live on in our son.’
Until January, when Tasha resumes chemotherapy, she is breast-feeding, and it is a constant solace to her that Jon is a ‘brilliant’ father and her parents, Debs and David, retired from the Armed Forces, live close by.
She doesn’t think about the worst; she invests all her energy into looking forward. And she pins her hopes on another miracle. After all, baby Cooper, her brightest of Christmas stars, is evidence they can happen.
