A pregnant mother with cancer, who decided not to have treatment until she gives birth, passed away after delivery.
When she was 25 weeks pregnant, Cara Walters Combs was diagnosed with stage four melanoma. Her doctors advised that it will be best if she starts treatment right away.
Combs gave it much thought, but after weighing down things, the mother from Missouri decided to delay treatment. She came up with the decision with only one thing in mind: her baby's health.
Delaying necessary therapies until after giving birth means that Combs had to wait for a few more weeks. The plan was to wait until at least the 28th week of gestation before she could give birth and begin treatment.
"Against the advice of my oncologist, I am choosing to delay my treatment for three weeks in order to get the baby to 28 weeks," Combs wrote on her Facebook page. She added that there is no good choice in her midst and that she and her child will be both fighting for their lives – something that has left her with a massive amount of guilt.
Dermatologist in 2014 gave Combs a clean slate and even the oncologist cannot trace the source.
"At 38 you don't expect to find out that you are dying," she wrote. She then advised everyone to savor the time they have with their kids and to not worry much about little things.
Finally, Combs gave birth to her fourth child Shaylin on Dec. 5. The doctors recommended that she begins cancer treatment 48 hours after delivery. Unfortunately, her husband Roy Combs announced through their family's GoFundMe page that his wife passed away Tuesday morning.
"I wanted to let everyone know that we lost Cara Walters Combs this morning," he wrote. He added that Cara sacrificed herself so that her legacy would linger and that there is an angel looking over their family now.
Melanoma is an aggressive type of skin cancer that originates from a skin cell type called melanocytes. The main function of melanocytes is to secrete melanin, which protects the inner skin layers from the hazardous effects of the sun.
The American Cancer Society said that treatment options for melanoma include surgery, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
