Photography: Nykie Grove-Eades
It should have been one of the happiest days of Samie Johnson’s life. Ten weeks into a pregnancy that she’d feared might never happen due to chronic health problems, such as endometriosis and rheumatoid arthritis, she was bubbling with excitement when she went for the first scan.
“I was over the moon to be pregnant and I thought I could be having twins because I already looked about six months pregnant and I had really bad morning sickness,” she explains.
“There are multiples in my family, so I went for the scan thinking I would be told it was twins or even triplets. Then the ultrasound tech looked at me and her face dropped.”
Samie, 27, was devastated to learn she had a molar pregnancy. This rare pregnancy complication happens when an egg doesn’t fertilise properly. Instead of an embryo developing, abnormal placental tissue grows.
“My whole world just shattered,” remembers Samie 18 months on.
A series of terrifying complications followed
Sadly, that was just the beginning of a series of traumas that upended Samie’s life but have taught her to stand up for herself. During a dilation and curettage (D&C) procedure to remove tissue from the uterus, she suffered a severe haemorrhage and needed an emergency transfusion.
Samie had two further procedures to stop the bleeding, with doctors inserting a balloon-like device into her uterus and performing another procedure to ensure all remaining tissue was removed. A week after the final one, the promotions assistant for an Auckland radio network should have been starting to feel better, but something wasn’t right.
Symptoms that raised alarm
“I was cramping, I was bleeding, I was in pain and still nauseous,” she tells.
“It was like my pregnancy symptoms, but amplified. I did some research and knew I shouldn’t have been feeling like that. I saw that with a molar pregnancy, there is a slim chance it can turn into cancer. I went to my GP and said, ‘I think I could have cancer.’ But she thought I had a type of depression and referred me to a psychologist.”
Advocating for herself when she wasn’t believed
Samie was adamant her symptoms were physical, not psychological, and she went to the hospital the next day for a second opinion.
“I told them I thought it was cancer, but they tried to send me home with Tramadol. I said, ‘I’m not moving from this bed until I get some answers.’”
Doctors checked her hCG levels—the pregnancy hormone that is typically high in molar pregnancies—and found they had risen since her D&C.
“They should have dropped significantly,” she says.
“I was sobbing – I knew it was a really bad sign.”
A devastating diagnosis confirmed
An X-ray and MRI revealed Samie’s intuition was correct – there were between 25 and 30 tumours in her lungs. She had a rare and aggressive cancer called choriocarcinoma, which develops in placental cells and is most common in women who have had molar pregnancies.
“Because it had spread from my uterus to my lungs, it was stage four and it was so aggressive, I had to start chemotherapy straightaway,” she shares.
Even that wasn’t straight-forward. Her rheumatoid arthritis means she’s allergic to the usual chemo drug given to patients with choriocarcinoma. Samie’s doctors had to seek advice from experts in the UK before eventually finding the most suitable drugs to give her. Doctors had to administer the chemotherapy very slowly, with each session taking around 12–16 hours. During one session, she had an allergic reaction and passed out. She also became seriously ill after an infection in her portacath led to sepsis.
“I’ve definitely done it the hard way,” smiles Samie, despite everything she has been through.
A hopeful turning point
After seven months of chemo, she finally received some good news – while she still has residual tumours in her lungs, they are not cancerous. She has blood tests every three months and if her hCG levels rise, she’ll go back on chemo.
Picking up the pieces of her life, Samie is grateful for the support from her partner, mum, nana and other family members. She credits the oncology nurses at Auckland Hospital and the Cancer Society with getting her through, saying they were always just a phone call away whenever she was struggling.
Samie and her partner would like to try again for a baby, although she knows there’s a small risk of having another molar pregnancy. She tries to stay positive and says her experiences over the past 18 months have made her stronger.
“I’ve grown a backbone and I can say, ‘No, I’m not accepting that,’” she says.
“I’m determined that one day, somehow, I will have a baby.”
