Athena Krueger was an account executive who learned she was pregnant at 33 years old in 2013. But at nearly the same time, she also got the devastating news that she also had stage 2 invasive ductal carcinoma, a form of breast cancer.
Despite the risks, Athena underwent chemotherapy when she was 15 weeks pregnant and delivered her daughter via Caesarean section at 32 weeks. She and her husband Ben named their little girl Amari, which means "gift from god."
However, the battle was not yet over for Athena. They had discovered that even with the treatment, her cancer had spread to her lungs, brain, and lymph nodes. A painful battle which she documented on her blog that despite all the scars she had collected from her surgeries, she was still thankful to be alive and to be a mother to Amari.
"When I look into the mirror I see my scars - over my breast, in my armpit, by my collarbone, and the one from my C-section - they are a constant reminder that this is not a dream," she wrote in a heartbreaking entry where she learned that she was not cancer-free.
It became clear to Athena and Ben that she may not live longer than their daughter's first birthday, so even with the pain from treatments, they celebrated Amari's birthday in the grandest way possible - a tea party themed birthday complete with Ben dressed up as the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland.
According to reports, doctors at the hospital were at first against the idea of allowing Athena to go home for the party, away from medical care. They tried to convince them to hold the party at the hospital's multi-purpose room instead. But the couple refused, they wanted Amari to celebrate her birthday at home and they wanted Athena to be comfortable.
The doctors relented and helped her go home with hospice care and a pain pump to manage her medication for her final days.
Amari's first birthday was celebrated with 300 people in their backyard on May 2 - three days before Amari's real birthday. Athena died in her husband's arms the next day.
Athena's husband told reporters that he believes Athena held out until she could see their daughter turn one year old and he will cherish the memories made during that day forever.
"I'm hoping that between the pictures of this party and everything, they'll help me teach Amari all about her mom as she grows up," Ben said. "I don't want her to ever forget who she is or where she came from - it's pretty amazing."
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