Woman, Diagnosed with Aggressive Cancer While Pregnant, Recalls Heartbreaking Thing Doctors Said About Baby’s Survival Chances

NEED TO KNOW

• A 39-year-old woman was diagnosed with an aggressive form of blood cancer while pregnant with her third child

• Doctors said she needed life-saving chemotherapy, but they could not assure her that her unborn child would survive

• “I was desperate to keep him, but at the same time I wanted to stay alive for my boys,” Amy De Silva said

A woman was diagnosed with an aggressive form of blood cancer while pregnant — and doctors told her she might lose her baby.

Amy De Silva of Essex, England, and her husband, Greg De Silva, both 39, learned they were expecting their third child in November 2024, according to news agency SWNS.

However, a routine blood test at 10 weeks came back with suspicious findings, leading Amy’s doctors to order more tests.

Amy, a cancer nurse and a mom of two boys at the time, was ultimately told she needed a bone marrow biopsy.

The results showed something she never could have imagined: She had acute myeloid leukaemia, a fast-growing cancer of the blood and bone marrow.

Amy said she didn’t notice any major symptoms before her diagnosis, recalling that she “just felt tired,” though she attributed it to normal pregnancy fatigue at the time.

“We were getting ready to tell everyone I was pregnant, but instead, we were telling everyone I would need to spend a month in the hospital,” she added.

Worse yet, Amy’s doctors could not assure her that her unborn child, a son, would survive her necessary life-saving cancer treatments.

“I was desperate to keep him, but at the same time I wanted to stay alive for my boys,” Amy said while speaking to the outlet.

Amy began her first of four scheduled rounds of chemotherapy in February 2025. The treatment entailed daily chemotherapy for 10 days “with regular scans to make sure the baby [was] okay,” Amy recalled.

Amy was released from the hospital after the first round, but she was rushed back within less than a day due to sepsis, which is a life-threatening condition in which the body begins fighting its own tissue.

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“Within 12 hours of getting home after my first round of chemotherapy, my temperature spiked, and I had to shoot back to the hospital where I was for another two weeks,” she said.

Amy also suffered from sepsis during her third and fourth rounds of treatment. “Each time I was admitted with sepsis, they would scan me to make sure the baby was okay,” she said.

Amy gave birth to her son, Chester, six weeks early on June 29, 2025.

“He was in special care for less than two weeks — he did absolutely amazing,” Amy said. “When I woke up from the surgery, the staff took me to his incubator. I cried when I saw him.”

“It was incredible to hold him. It was so emotional. He is our little miracle,” she added.

Amy is now in remission, though she will require blood and bone marrow biopsies every three months for the next two years.

Amy’s twin brother, Jack Sibbons, 39, is planning to run the London Marathon in April in order to raise money for Addenbrooke’s Hospital, where Amy received her life-saving treatment.

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“The Addenbrooke’s staff were incredible. They saved my life, and they saved Chester’s life,” Amy told SWNS.

“I am incredibly proud and humbled by all of the support we’ve had with our fundraising so far,” she said, adding,”I’m so grateful to be alive and for all the support and care.”

You can donate to Jack’s fundraising page for Addenbrooke’s Hospital here.

Read the original article on People