A young North West mum received the ʜᴇᴀʀᴛʙʀᴇᴀᴋɪɴɢ news she has incurable Cᴀɴᴄᴇʀ just days after giving birth to ᴘʀᴇᴍᴀᴛᴜʀᴇ twins. Lorna Whiston, 26, was forced to deliver her babies early in November to have sᴄᴀɴs and get treatment for Stage 4 breast cᴀɴᴄᴇʀ.
Now she does not know how much time she has left with them, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Lorna is undergoing treatment for Cᴀɴᴄᴇʀ at the same time as looking after newborn twins, Reuben and Arya, and her first son, Mason, who is three. The mum, from Cheshire, now wants to use her story to urge younger women to check their breasts, as the ᴅɪsᴇᴀsᴇ can develop at any age. It’s the second time Lorna has been ᴅɪᴀɢɴᴏsᴇᴅ with Cᴀɴᴄᴇʀ, the first being in February 2019.
“I was playing with Mason, who was only one at the time, and he hit my boob and I thought it seemed a bit sore,” she said. “I felt it and found a ʟᴜᴍᴘ, but I thought it was just ʜᴏʀᴍᴏɴᴀʟ because I was only 24 at the time and on my ᴘᴇʀɪᴏᴅ. “I had a ʙɪᴏᴘsʏ and then on February 4, ironically World Cancer Day, I received my ᴅɪᴀɢɴᴏsɪs of breast cancer.” The young mum’s treatment was vigorous; she had a double mastectomy with reconstruction the following month, froze her eggs and six months of chemotherapy.
After finishing her final round, Lorna rang the bell at Christie Hospital in Manchester to signify the completion of her treatment on August 9.
When she turned around, she saw that her fiancée Jonny Parkes, 30, was down on one knee, ready to propose. By January 2020, Lorna had been given the all-clear after a follow-up MRI which showed no evidence of ᴄᴀɴᴄᴇʀ.
However at the beginning of May, she says she had a ‘funny feeling’ and decided to take a pregnancy test, which came back positive. A scan three weeks later revealed she was having twins.
She said: “You aren’t supposed to try and get pregnant in the first couple of years after chemo, and it was an a.ccident, but a good a.ccident! “Chemo can make you infertile and that’s why I froze my eggs, and after you get told that you are probably going to be ɪɴғᴇʀᴛɪʟᴇ it’s all you can think about.
“But we fell pregnant naturally, and twins were even more of a sʜᴏᴄᴋ – I released two eggs but there aren’t any other twins on my side of the family. “I was so excited and overjoyed, and both me and Jonny felt ʙʟᴇssᴇᴅ, like it was meant to happen.” Her pregnancy continued normally until after five months Lorna started getting ʙʀᴇᴀᴛʜʟᴇss easily, even after just going up the stairs she would want to sit down.
She said: “I thought it was just down to it being twins at first, but then in November I developed a little cough. “The cough quickly got ᴡᴏʀsᴇ and after three days I struggled to get to the end of a sentence when reading a book for my son.”Jonny rang 111, and Lorna was worried it could be Covid, so they went into A&E on November 14 where an X-ʀᴀʏ was taken of Lorna’s chest.
She said: “They thought my aorta could be enlarged, which is ᴅᴀɴɢᴇʀᴏᴜs for the babies, so they did a CT scan to ʀᴜʟᴇ it out and that was when they saw there was a mass just above my collarbone. “Even though they couldn’t confirm anything, I immediately thought the ᴡᴏʀsᴛ and was a bit upset. “It’s hard to hear it a second time once you’ve been through it all once.”
After a couple of days in hospital and a ʙɪᴏᴘsʏ, Lorna decided to have the babies early in case she needed to go ahead with ᴄᴀɴᴄᴇʀ treatment.
She said: “They didn’t confirm it was ᴄᴀɴᴄᴇʀ but they had a pretty good idea, and wanted to do a full body CT sᴄᴀɴ to check for any more m.asses so had to get the twins out. “It was all a bit of a blur- we were rushing around to get things ready for the twins, but the decision to give birth early was a quick one because we’d been thinking about it ever since they found the ʟᴜᴍᴘ.” Just one week after her biopsy, Lorna gave birth to her twins on Monday 23 November by emergency C-sᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ. Reuben and Arya were premature, born 34 weeks and 5 days along, at 5lb 1oz and 4lb 8oz respectively and were taken to the neonatal ward for care.
She said: “I was so relieved because they said they might not come out crying as they were so young, but they did, which was the best thing.” Lorna had her full-body CT scan the day after giving birth and, just four days later, was told her breast ᴄᴀɴᴄᴇʀ had returned but this time it was at Stage 4 and terminal. She said: “It’s hard, I have days where it’s all I can think about; whether Mason and the twins will even remember me because they’re so young. “I worry about the effect it will have on Mason because he’s not old enough to understand, he just thinks mummy’s poorly.” Lorna, from Crewe, is four weeks into her treatment with chemotherapy and immunotherapy, and friends have launched a fundraising campaign to help her complete her bucket list. So far almost £20,000 has been raised to help the young family buy a house, go on holiday – and for Lorna and Jonny to finally get married.
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