A woman has spoken of her devastation after her rare pregnancy left her without a baby – and instead gave her cancer.
Newlyweds Stephanie and Michael Theobald were heartbroken at the 12 week scan when the nurse revealed she couldn’t find a baby’s heartbeat.
The 35-year-old was told her only options were to wait and give birth naturally or undergo surgery.
But when doctors performed a biopsy it was revealed it had been a complete molar pregnancy – meaning abnormal cells had grown instead of a baby.
Stephanie, who works as a recruitment manager, said: “I’m one of six children – the only girl and the last one to have kids. My mum was so excited for me to get pregnant.
“We didn’t wait until the normal three month mark to tell everyone because we were so excited.
“So I had the trauma of telling everyone the news. No one had heard of it. They couldn’t believe it.”
But the devastation didn’t end there as the tests also revealed that she now had gestational trophoblastic neoplasia – a malignant tumour.
Stephanie began a course of chemotherapy in August and she will find out if she can try again for children in January.
But she will have to wait for a year after that to conceive – meaning the earliest the couple can try is January 2018 when Stephanie will be nearing 37.
Stephanie and Michael, 38, a commerical manager, got married in 2015 after five years together and had been excited to have children as soon as possible.
Speaking about the moment the couple, from Manchester, found out about the rare pregnancy, Stephanie said: “It was just awful.
“When you go for a scan, it’s meant to be a happy time. We both just came crashing down.
“They took us into a little room, which we knew was the room of bad news. They told us I could wait and have it naturally or have an operation to remove it.
“You don’t even know where or when it would happen and I couldn’t deal with that.
“I just wanted it to be over so I picked the operation, which was good because if I hadn’t, I might not have been examined and had the tumour decteced.”
About one to three in every 1,000 pregnancies turn out to be molar.
But after a complete molar pregnancy, the risk of needing further treatment, including chemotherapy, is one in ten.
In September, Stephanie reacted badly to the chemotherapy and needed a blood clot in her arm and her appendix removed.
Speaking about the future, Stephanie said: “It’s a massive worry – the fact that I have to wait so long. I really wanted a family for a long time.
“My husband is apprehensive because he feels it’s his fault. He said, ‘I don’t want to get you pregnant again if I’ve done this to you.’
“I would love a family, but if I got pregnant again, I would be constantly worrying until I have the baby in front of me.”
