Mother-to-be sacrifices her chance of surviving cancer for her baby

By Linda Reid Chassiakos
May 11, 2009

She leaned on her husband, using his strength to hide her unsteadiness. Her steps were tentative, measured, cautious, with her gait more typical of a woman decades older than her late 20s. She could still walk, shake hands and almost smile, at least with one side of her mouth; she couldn't let the tumor take those gifts away -- not yet. She had to stay healthy another few weeks, until her baby was born.

The father-to-be gently guided his wife into her chair, helped her adjust her sari and, still clutching her hand, eased into the seat next to her. The neurosurgeon waited for us all -- oncologist, neurologist, obstetrician, pediatricians -- to be seated, before giving a brief update on his patient's diagnosis: astrocytoma, an aggressively malignant cancer of the brain. the rest