Real Life

Time running out for mum who refused cancer treatment in order to save baby

I would not wish this on my own worst enemy.

A woman who refused cancer treatment to save her unborn child has been told her condition is now terminal.

Gemma Nuttall from Lancashire, England, was 16 weeks pregnant when a routine scan revealed a tumour on her ovaries. Rather than undergoing treatment, she continued her pregnancy to save her unborn child.

Her daughter Penelope, now two, was delivered by cesarean section at 36 weeks due to the increasing size of the tumour.

The cancer was removed moments after Penelope was born, but just weeks later, Gemma was diagnosed with cervical cancer and began treatment including nine months of chemotherapy.

Two years on and the 27-year old has now been told she has the disease for a third time.

She has been told she will never be cured from metastatic ovarian Cancer, and is also battling stage 4 brain and lung cancer.

Her family is trying to raise $94,000 so she can fly to the private oncology clinic in Germany for specialist treatment unavailable in the UK.

“As a mother, I believe one of the worst things you can ever hear is, ‘Mum, I have cancer’,” Gemma’s mother, Helen Sproates, wrote on a crowdfunding website.

“Penelope, her little daughter is now just 2 years old and we are determined to carry on fighting to get her mummy healthy again.

“I would not wish this on my own worst enemy – what a cruel and shattering experience this is.”

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