- Woman diagnosed with brain cancer during pregnancy now cancer-free after treatment
- Brain tumour traced to melanoma, discovered during emergency MRI in 2020
- Early cesarean delivery was performed to protect unborn child from immunotherapy
A woman who was diagnosed with brain cancer during pregnancy has survived against the odds and is now cancer-free. She also named her baby after the surgeon who helped save her life, reported People.
Jenney Bitner of Washington was 38 and pregnant with her fourth child when she began experiencing severe nausea, headaches, and balance problems while on vacation with her family in 2020, according to CBS News.
A visit to the emergency room and an MRI revealed that Bitner had a massive brain tumour. Further tests showed that the cancer had started as an undiagnosed melanoma and had spread to her brain.
Bitner recalled that she was thinking she was too young for this to be happening. She also said she thought there was no way she was going to make it through it and that she would never see her baby survive to a year old. She added that she was terrified.
Surgeons removed as much of the tumour as they safely could, and Bitner was told she would require immunotherapy so that her body could recognise and attack the remaining cancer cells.
However, she first needed to deliver her unborn child early through a cesarean section because immunotherapy would be harmful to the baby.
Bitner delivered a son on May 4, 2020, and named him Marcus after her neurosurgeon.
Marcus weighed 3 pounds, 12 ounces at birth and spent time in the NICU. He was cleared to go home within several weeks.
Shortly after giving birth, Bitner underwent a second brain surgery, during which her doctor successfully removed the entire tumour. She then began immunotherapy.
Despite the treatment, Bitner said she knew the odds were not in her favour because of her prognosis.
She recalled that she kept thinking about her children and believed she would not see them grow up.
However, scans showed that the treatment was working, and Bitner made what doctors described as remarkable progress.
In October 2020, tests revealed that the mother of four had no signs of the disease. Almost six years later, she remains cancer-free.
