Pregnancy can be quite an exciting time in a young woman's life. There are all kinds of feelings, both physical and emotional, that are different than any other time in life. Of all those feelings, one that no expectant mother wants is the fear that she may not be around to raise her baby.
Meagan Friedman was a 30-year-old mom to be, looking forward to the joy of holding that precious baby for the first time. But her joyful excitement turned into fear in December 2006 when she was 16 weeks pregnant with her very first baby.
"One evening I happened to be feeling my neck and one side felt swollen," Meagan said. At her appointment with her obstetrician the next day, she asked her doctor what she thought. Her OB decided to send her in for an ultrasound which revealed a large mass on her right thyroid. A biopsy of the thyroid revealed lymphoma cells.
"I felt absolutely terrified," Meagan said, "I didn't know what it meant for my future or the future of my unborn baby". Her husband began researching her disease and gathering as much information as he could before they ever set foot in the halls of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Her first appointment was in January 2007 at 19 weeks of pregnancy. Another biopsy as well as other tests were done to determine the type of lymphoma Meagan had and where all it was located. The right side of her thyroid was surgically removed to help diagnose and in late January, around 21 weeks into her pregnancy, she was told she had follicular lymphoma. Follicular lymphoma is a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that, although treatable, is completely incurable.
Meagan's doctor told her she would need to undergo chemotherapy to kill her cancer. "I was devastated and very worried about the baby," she said. After consulting with many doctors, both in and out of MD Anderson, the decision was made to wait to begin treatments after the baby was born if she delivered a few weeks early. "I enjoyed the last 10 weeks of my pregnancy and I delivered a beautiful baby boy at 37 weeks."
Three weeks later, Meagan went through all the staging and started chemotherapy in June. She endured six rounds of treatments. When most new moms are exhausted from taking care of their new baby, Meagan was exhausted from poison pumping through her veins. "The worst day was the day my hair started falling out," she said. But she learned to endure the side effects knowing it would eventually come to an end and she would be healthy again. But Meagan was sad that she could not breast feed her baby and experience some of the wonderful things other new mommies get to experience.
Half way through chemo, her scans revealed a mass on one of her kidneys. When treatments were finished, the mass was removed and she discovered she had another cancer, renal cell carcinoma. "The cancers were not related to each other," she said, "I just happened to have both and we would not have found the renal cell if I was never diagnosed with the lymphoma. Some would say I am lucky."
Today, Meagan and her husband are the proud parents of two boys, Brayden who is six and Oliver who is three. They are healthy and strong just like their mom. She continues to go in for annual scans. Follicular lymphoma has no cure, so technically, she can never say she no longer has cancer. Like others with this type of lymphoma, she experiences the anxiety of uncertainty, but she doesn't let it slow her down. Meagan does triathlons with Team In Training and raises funds to end blood cancer. She will continue to fight not only her own cancer, but she will stand up for others who have the difficulty of hearing they have a disease that can be treated, but never cured.
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| With her wonderful husband and two boys |
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| GO TEAM!!! |
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