PORTISHEAD, U.K., December 23, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – A U.K. mother diagnosed with a fast-acting breast cancer while pregnant and who refused to abort her unborn child has revealed that her infant daughter – delivered by C-section 12 weeks early – died at eight days old.
The Daily Mail reports that Heidi Loughlin, 32, published a poem on her blog December 19 dedicated to her newborn baby, Ally Louise Smith, who died on Friday: “Yesterday afternoon our hearts broke in two, for we had to say goodbye to you.”
A police officer, Loughlin was three months pregnant with Ally when she was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer.
Loughlin, who has two other children, Noah, aged 2, and Tait, aged 1, with her common-law husband of seven years, Keith Smith, refused to consider an abortion.
“There was absolutely no way I could not keep the baby,” she told the Mail. “We thought: 'We'll manage it, we'll risk it, we'll do it, we'll just crack on.'”
Loughlin also refused aggressive treatment with the drug Herceptin, which would harm her unborn baby. “[Y]ou categorically cannot have Herceptin in pregnancy,” she told the Mail. “It's fatal for a lot of babies and so that was the issue.”
As she put it in her candid blog about her cancer battle, Storm in a Tit Cup, “[w]e have this little matter of baby Chocolate Mousse. Babies and Herceptin don't mix.”
However, when the chemotherapy considered safe for her baby did not stop Loughlin's cancer, doctors advised the young mother to deliver early so she could begin Herceptin.
Loughlin delivered Ally Louise at 28 weeks' gestation by C-section on December 11. Her baby “came out foot first and is breathing on her own,” she related on her blog. “She weighs 2lb 5ozs. She has a Loughlin nose and she has more hair than me!!!”
The birth announcement was followed by an update five days later that the tiny baby was “doing so well and kicking arse.”
Four days later, the poem relating Ally's death appeared on Laughlin's blog. “We kissed you, we cuddled you, we tickled your feet, and I know again one day we'll meet.”
Loughlin wrote earlier in her blog about the “absolutely terrifying” decision to have her daughter 12 weeks early.
Her doctors argued that the risk to her baby from early delivery was lower than the risk Loughlin faces by delaying aggressive treatment for her cancer.
“Also what is terrifying is that if I stay pregnant until New Year's Eve as originally planned then there's a pretty good chance I've missed my window of potential cure,” she wrote. “So what the hell do you do in this boat?”
“Realistically I've got to make a decision that encompasses everyone. I absolutely need to be here for my children,” Loughlin observed. And “I need to continue to give chocolate mousse the best chance I can.”
“But I'm scared to my core about a baby born so early. I am also scared that I may not get through this. Mostly I'm scared of doing the wrong thing.”
The Daily Mail reported that Loughlin is scheduled to begin the more forceful chemotherapy with Herpecin and will know her prognosis in March.
