BOSTON — A South Shore mom defied the odds to get pregnant only to be hit with a second even larger challenge.
FOX25’s Heather Hegedus sat down with her and doctors to find out how she's doing and learn her message to other moms.
Jodi Killeffer has spent the last two years being pregnant on and off, but four different miscarriages were an emotional toll on her and her husband.
“We were both worked up and found there was nothing medically wrong with us. It was just bad luck,” she said.
On the fifth try their luck changed and for the first time she made it past the 12 week mark.
“You know, we can kind of relax a bit and enjoy the pregnancy and be like ‘OK I think this is going to happen, I think this is going to happen’ and then bam, that's when we got hit with the diagnosis,” she said.
That diagnosis was breast cancer, something Jodi had no family history of.
“The first thing obviously was ‘am I going to have to choose between me or the baby,’” she said.
But, much to Jodi’s delight, her oncologist and Brigham and Women’s Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist Dr. Katherine Economy came up with a way for her to handle the cancer without making the choice.
%
%
The treatment included surgery and chemotherapy while she was pregnant.
“We can't do things like radiation during pregnancy, but we routinely do surgery during pregnancy, and we do chemotherapy,” Dr. Economy said.
Positivity and determination from Jodi made a big difference.
“She always came in with a smile on her face even when things were down and there were reasons to be upset.
She just wanted to know ‘what is the way that we tackle this problem,’” she said.
Coraline made it to term and now at 3 months old she is perfectly healthy, even while mom continues her fight.
%
%
“She's great. I have the perfect kid,” Jodi said.
She's getting ready for a mastectomy, followed by radiation to target her lymph nodes.
Still, Jodi says, Coraline gives her daily motivation and inspiration.
“God won't give you any more than you can handle. You can handle a lot more than you think,” she said.
Jodi blogs about her experiences now to reach out to other women with breast cancer. Her website is www.SweetBabySourCancer.com.