Woman ‘shocked’ to hear cancer diagnosis was made days before giving birth

A 34-year-old mother in England learned she had breast cancer shortly before she gave birth to her first child.

Laura Hudson of Manchester was diagnosed with stage 2, grade 3 breast cancer in November 2023 when she was 36 weeks pregnant after discovering a lump in her right breast, according to a Thursday, November 14 news release from The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Great Britain

The expectant mother had her results confirmed after visiting a doctor and undergoing a scan and biopsy, and was then booked for an emergency C-section less than a week later, the press release said. She welcomed her daughter Aurora on November 14, 2023.

“When they told me I had cancer, I was completely blown away,” Hudson said in the press release. “…I was in a complete pregnancy bubble and preparing to become a mother for the first time, so I never really thought about how it could be something so serious. My thoughts immediately went to Aurora and what would happen to her.”

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After an initial visit to a doctor about the lump, Hudson was told that it was “most likely related to pregnancy,” she told the newspaper BBC. When the lump got bigger, her doctor sent the request for further checks, she recalled to the outlet.

Hudson told the BBC that she and her husband Sam were “so shocked because you don’t expect this, especially during pregnancy,” adding that her “first thought was of my baby.”

She safely welcomed her daughter Aurora at 37 weeks and had just three weeks to recover before starting chemotherapy at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust center at her home in Wigan in Wales.

“Being a new mother is hard enough, but having to deal with cancer treatment on top of that was almost unbearable,” Laura told The Christie, according to the press release.

“…I couldn’t do as much as I wanted with Aurora, which was heartbreaking and made me feel like an inadequate mother at times, but being able to come back to her after a day in the hospital helped me cope to get through. Whenever I had a particularly difficult moment, I focused on her.

The mother-of-one thanked her husband and parents for their support during the ordeal, calling them ‘my rocks’.

Laura underwent a mastectomy and breast reconstruction and 15 radiotherapy sessions in April 2024, completing her treatment in August. She is now cancer-free, according to the release.

“My active treatment is now complete and I couldn’t be happier,” she said in the press release. “I want to do everything I can to make sure it doesn’t come back,” she said, adding that she is taking medication and that “my other breast will be removed next year.”

Hudson added: “We don’t know what this means for having more children in the future, but we are so lucky to have had Aurora – other women are not so lucky.”

Hudson and her husband recently celebrated their daughter’s first birthday, with the mother of one telling the BBC that life with her daughter “is amazing – she has made the past year worth it.”

“Laura is an inspiring woman,” says Laura’s consultant at The Christie, Dr. Claire Kelly, according to the release. “By sharing her story, she is also raising awareness. A lump is not the only symptom of breast cancer, so it is important that people check themselves regularly and know what is normal for them.”