Miracle Birth: Sunshine Coast Mother Has Healthy Baby After Chemotherapy While Pregnant

A Sunshine Coast mother has given birth to a healthy baby boy after undergoing chemotherapy while pregnant with him. Jya Banks, 28, was diagnosed with advanced Hodgkin's lymphoma at 14 weeks pregnant.

Scans found growths in her neck, under-arms, chest, and abdomen, with the growth in her abdomen measuring 10 centimetres in diameter. Despite the odds, Jya Banks started intensive chemotherapy in February at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital (SCUH) while 15 weeks pregnant.

"We didn't know what it meant for the baby," Jya Banks said. "'I'm going to die in five years … that's what I thought."

However, specialised treatment plans and reassurance from SCUH haematology clinical nurse consultant Alana Phillips gave the couple hope. Ms Phillips said she had had four patients who were pregnant when diagnosed with cancer in her 18 years of work.

"A lot of people would think that's an immediate no," she said. "Jya and Betha presented to our service thinking that wasn't going to be an option for them."

The Banks family was determined to beat the cancer, and after meeting with the treating team, it was full steam ahead. Betha Banks described the experience as having "the baby doctors being like, 'This is what we're going to do,' and then the cancer doctors being like, 'We'll have meetings about you,'".

Jya Banks suffered from drug fever, fatigue, nausea, low iron, and anaemia during her pregnancy. However, with the help of her medical team, including obstetric medicine, maternity, neonatal medicine, and the cancer care team, she was able to give birth to a healthy baby boy.

"The majority of fetal development occurs in that first 12 weeks, so hence we wait till that time period," Ms Phillips said.

SCUH senior staff specialist in general and obstetric medicine Rebekah Shakhovskoy said Jya Banks and her wife were "fiercely determined" to beat the cancer. Dr Shakhovskoy has treated 10 women who had cancer while pregnant in her 23 years in the health industry.

"Her body, which was trying to develop a new human being, was under a lot of stress by the bulk of the cancerous cells," Dr Shakhovskoy said. "It meant a higher risk of clots in the legs or the lungs, a higher risk of infections, and a higher risk of developing diabetes."

Jya Banks was induced at 37 weeks pregnant, and their baby boy, Harvey, was born on July 20, weighing just over 2 kilograms. He had no health issues and only stayed one night in hospital.

"They said medically he should be fine, but there's always that level of doubt in your mind of, 'Has it transferred to him? Does he potentially have cancer?'" Betha Banks said. "But there was no stone left unturned with what the hospital did."

Three weeks post-birth, the family celebrated another milestone: the cancer was in remission. Jya Banks and her wife couldn't be happier settling into motherhood with their son Harvey.

"A miracle for him to be here," Betha Banks said. "It could have been a lot worse … we could not have him, and I could also not be here," Jya Banks said. "We couldn't be happier."

Despite ongoing progress in medical treatment, a happy outcome is not guaranteed. Dr Shakhovskoy said she had been involved in cases where the mum and sometimes the baby hadn't made it.

However, she said Australian hospitals were "getting better with diagnostic practices," with imaging techniques now using less radiation for pregnant women.

"We are getting more confident with the type of best chemotherapeutics we can use in pregnancy," Dr Shakhovskoy said. "Ideally, we do like to start them in the second trimester … but it really depends at what stage in the cancer the patient presents and at what stage in the pregnancy they present at."

As cancer rates continue to rise in Australia, Dr Shakhovskoy said more women were undergoing chemotherapy while pregnant.

"The worldwide incidence of pregnancy-associated cancer, which is diagnosed as a diagnosis of cancer either in pregnancy or in the 12 months postpartum, is actually about one in 1,000," she said.