A baby who was delivered early to pave way for her mother's urgent cancer treatment died on Dec. 19. The mother of three was diagnosed with an aggressive and rare type of breast cancer.
Ally Louise, the baby girl, was born by cesarean section weighing only 2 pounds and 5 ounces. She came out breathing on her own.
"Keith and I are absolutely thrilled to announce the safe arrival of our daughter formally known as chocolate mousse," 32-year-old Heidi Loughlin from Portishead, North Somerset, announced in her blog on Dec. 11.
On Dec. 15, Loughlin posted that she cuddled her baby who was "doing so well and kicking arse." Sadly, eight days later, Ally Louise died.
"Yesterday afternoon our hearts broke in two. For we had to say goodbye to you. Our love for you is a beautiful haze. Even though you lived for eight short days," Loughlin wrote in a poem posted in her blog.
"Our beautiful daughter Ally Louise, I whisper your name and it drifts on the breeze, the pain in my body and heart and my soul. Feels it will consume me and leave me un-whole," she added.
In September, Loughlin was diagnosed with an inflammatory breast cancer, a type of the potentially fatal disease that is very rare and fast-spreading. Doctors advised her to terminate her pregnancy for her to undergo treatment using Herceptin, a drug that can be dangerous for the unborn baby in her womb.
Determined to pursue her pregnancy, she declined abortion and opted for a milder treatment instead. When the treatment was not working and her cancer cells started to spread fast, she had no choice but to deliver her baby early at 27 weeks.
Loughlin is a mother of two sons, Noah, 2 years old and Tait, who is just a year old. In February, she noticed a rash on her breast while breastfeeding her son. Doctors diagnosed her with mastitis, a common condition breast-feeding mothers experience as breast tissue becomes inflamed. Seven months later, while Loughlin was pregnant with their third child, tests revealed it was not just an ordinary inflammation.
"This means CM (chocolate mousse) will be 12 weeks early. This, my friends, is absolutely terrifying," she posted on Dec. 2.
"Also what is terrifying is that if I stay pregnant until New Year's Eve as originally planned then there's a pretty good chance I've missed my window of potential cure," she added.
Tony Sarkozi, whose wife died of cancer eight years ago, put up a JustGiving page for Loughlin.
"We're raising £50,000 ($74,575) to support Heidi Loughlin because of battling cancer and the loss of Ally Louise," he posted.
