At 13 I fought ovarian cancer… now I’m 17 and having a miracle baby

AT age 13, Kayleigh Donnelly was told she would never be able to have children.

Ovarian cancer and the gruelling chemotherapy to treat it was thought to have left her infertile.

But now, at 17, she has defied expectations and is five months pregnant with her “miracle baby”.

Kayleigh says: “I’m just so thrilled after everything that has happened. It has been a massive surprise.”

The teen made headlines in 2018 when it was claimed doctors had mistaken her huge tumour for constipation.

She was just days from death in 2016 when a scan found a tumour weighing 7lb — the same as a newborn baby — and 12in across.

Ovarian cancer normally affects women over 50, and Kayleigh was one of the youngest ever to have it.

Mum Lorraine, 40, who also has children Tom, 23, Ella, 19, Leo, ten, Charlie, eight, Rocky, five, and Poppy Mae, four, says: “We feel lucky that Kayleigh has survived, but she has been incredibly unlucky to get such a rare cancer.

“The doctors told me if I hadn’t taken her to A&E — if she’d been left another two weeks without a scan — she wouldn’t be here now.”

Kayleigh, of Blackpool, began feeling sick and bloated in January 2016.

Lorraine, who lives with husband Andrew, 40, says: “She hadn’t been to the toilet in weeks and felt poorly.

“So I took her to the doctor, who said she was constipated and prescribed laxatives.

“But these didn’t make any difference.

“I went back to the doctor’s another four times, and rang up five times, over the next four weeks.

“Each time I was told the same thing, just to give her laxatives because she was constipated.

“But she was growing sicker by the day.

“She had constant stomach cramps and looked lifeless. I felt so helpless.

“She was losing weight, too, but couldn’t even have a sip of water without feeling bloated all the time.

Kayleigh soon took a turn for the worse and Lorraine took her to A&E.

Kayleigh says: “I couldn’t keep anything down, I was constantly being sick and my stomach was just getting bigger and bigger by the day.

“I looked grey, too, and my skin was waxy and pale.

“I was in so much pain that I was crying out.”

When doctors sent her for a scan, they found the massive tumour on her ovary.

Lorraine says: “I was in shock. I knew something had been seriously wrong, but I never imagined it could be cancer.

“I couldn’t take it in. My whole world just collapsed.”

Doctors also discovered the cancer had spread to Kayleigh’s liver, spleen, bowel, rectum and pelvis.

She needed several operations and chemotherapy.

Lorraine says: “We couldn’t believe it was ovarian cancer. I’d heard of it — Andrew’s nana had died from it — but we never thought it could happen to someone as young as Kayleigh. “I thought it was a cancer that only older women got.

“But Kayleigh was so brave throughout it all.

“After she was diagnosed, she was allowed home from hospital for a weekend during her chemotherapy treatment.

“We both lay on her bed, she was hugging me and she asked: ‘Mum, am I going to die?’

“What do you say to your 13-year-old daughter when she asks a question like that? It was awful.

“I told her I didn’t know, but whatever happened we would be in this together.

“The chemotherapy was so strong it just wiped her out. But we knew it was her only hope.”

Kayleigh’s treatment finished at the end of August that year and since then she has been in remission.

Three months ago, she and her partner Amari Shambola, 16, then made the amazing discovery that she had got pregnant.

Kayleigh says: “Mum persuaded me to take a test, as I told her I wasn’t feeling very well.

“The doctors had said it would be impossible, so when the test showed I was pregnant, we couldn’t believe it. I was so thrilled.

“I’m so delighted my cancer hasn’t stopped me from being a mum.

“I’ve always loved kids and, even though I was young, I always knew I wanted to have them.

“I didn’t use contraception after my chemotherapy treatment, as I thought I didn’t need to.

“I realise I’ve got pregnant very young — and if I hadn’t been through what I’ve been through, I perhaps wouldn’t have chosen to get pregnant at 17.

“But I just feel so lucky, that I’ve been able to have a baby after everything I’ve been through, my age doesn’t matter to me.

“Being pregnant is also scary, though, especially in lockdown.

“Because of my cancer treatment, I’m classed as high-risk, so haven’t been able to see anyone.

“I’ve had to go for my 20-week scan on my own, and go to see the midwife on my own.

“Amari wasn’t allowed to come in with me and Mum wasn’t either.

“I’m worried about giving birth, too. The doctors have told me that if I need a Caesarean, it won’t be straightforward.

“When I was operated on to remove the tumour, I was cut from my breastbone down to my bikini line, so they would have to cut open my side to remove the baby.

“But I’m taking it very carefully and looking after myself well — as I know it’s such a miracle.”

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