Without medical intervention, Gina was able to conceive.
With a strong history of breast cancer in both her parents’ families, Gina began having routine mammography at the age of 26. In 2008, when she went for her annual physical, her obstetrician felt a lump.
He sent her for an ultrasound and mammogram. The lump was a Stage 1, Class 3, triple negative breast cancer. Given the likelihood of recurrence, a bi-lateral mastectomy was scheduled, to be followed by chemotherapy. Gina’s dream of becoming a mom was slipping away. She harvested an embryo with the hopes of being able to become pregnant in the future.
During this difficult time, Gina was comforted in knowing that her medical oncologist was the son of the obstetrician who delivered her. After four rounds of chemotherapy, her treatment was finished. Carrying the BRCA gene, she is at high risk for ovarian cancer and her physicians encouraged her to have a complete hysterectomy. But she desperately wanted a family.
After multiple miscarriages, she told the doctors she was going to try one more time. Without medical intervention, Gina was able to conceive. At the age of 41, four-and one-half years after being diagnosed with breast cancer, she became pregnant and delivered her son.