I’m a mum of 9 – I’m pregnant again, but feel guilty about having another baby while my daughter battles cancer
A SUPERMUM pregnant with her 10th child has revealed she feels guilty about having another baby – because one of her twin daughters is battling cancer. Rebecca Walker, 42, and husband Jamie, 43, were “over the moon” in April to discover they were expecting another addition to their bumper brood. But just a month later, […]
A SUPERMUM pregnant with her 10th child has revealed she feels guilty about having another baby – because one of her twin daughters is battling cancer.
Rebecca Walker, 42, and husband Jamie, 43, were “over the moon” in April to discover they were expecting another addition to their bumper brood.
But just a month later, their 15-year-old daughter Sophie was diagnosed with cancer for a fourth time.
Rebecca, from Loanhead, Midlothian, said: “It’s been a bit hard, obviously Sophie was diagnosed at the same time as I fell pregnant.
“So we’ve kind of blocked it out just now. I just felt guilty, really.
“How can I be focusing on this pregnancy when Sophie’s got so much going on? So we just decided to focus on Sophie as much as we can.”
The youngster was first diagnosed with cancer in 2017 at the age of 10 – after her twin sister Megan displayed phantom symptoms.
Sophie was rushed to hospital by Rebecca and Jamie with a suspected severe vomiting bug.
But a lump on her torso turned out to be a cancerous Wilms’ tumour on her kidney – which affects around 80-85 children a year.
Symptoms include feeling tired, a fever, upset stomach, weight loss or a lack of appetite.
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But until the hospital dash, Sophie hadn’t displayed any of those signs – while her twin sister Megan had lost weight and became tired and sick, but was later ruled healthy.
Brave Sophie had a seven-hour operation to remove the tumour and her left kidney.
But she faced another tumour blow in January 2020, aged 13, when she relapsed to her biopsy site in her back muscle.
The cancer made a return at the same spot last December, and the teen was diagnosed again in May this year.
Rebecca and Jamie, a plumber, have been by Sophie’s side for repeat trips to hospital for gruelling chemotherapy, scans and surgeries.
And Rebecca believes her unborn tot is already “reassuring her” from the womb so she can focus on her elder daughter’s cancer battle.
She told the Scottish Sun Online: “Normally I see reduced movement in my pregnancies.
“With Nathan I was in all the time because I couldn’t feel him moving, but this one moves all the time.
“It’s like he’s reassuring me constantly. I wake up through the night and he’s moving constantly.”
She added: “We’re having a boy, which we’re happy about. He’s due on the 20th of August but because of my age they’re going to induce me two weeks early.”
The couple, originally from Morecambe, Lancashire, are also parents to James, 19, Emily, 18, Lucy, 17, Daniel, 12, Olivia, 11, Ella, eight, and Nathan, seven.
And they became grandparents last year after Emily welcomed baby Harrison into the world in July.
‘THE BOSS’
The family all live under one roof at their four-bedroom Scots pad where Rebecca said Sophie’s siblings let her rule the roost when she’s home from hospital.
The mum, who runs her own holiday let cleaning firm, said: “Sophie’s got her own seat in the living room, she’s always in charge of the remote. She says it helps her get through it, what can we say to that.
“Megan even knows what noise means Sophie wants her shoes taken off, and will just do it.”
A pet chihuahua, sausage dog and kitten have also been added to the family – gits during Sophie’s cancer journey.
Rebecca joked: “So we’ve got all these animals all because of Sophie, who is the boss by the way. She’ll have something else she’ll want, I’m sure of it.
“She wants to go to New York, she’s got everything planned. She’s been twice already.”
She added: “There was nothing to indicate it would be a hard cancer to treat, it was just complete bad luck.
“The tumour is beside her spine, nerves, blood vessels, lung, ribs and gut so we can’t take any chances.
“We are running out of options at this point and we just want our beautiful girl to be living a normal teenage life.”
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