Did You Read the article, “With Child, With Cancer”?

Written by Pamela Paul, in The New York Times Magazine last weekend.

I just got around to it today — and let me tell you, it was excellent. Here are a few highlights:

“The decisions you have to make when a woman has cancer are difficult enough,” Dr. Ann Partridge, an oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, says. “Throw in the fact that she’s pregnant, and now we have another party to think about, the fetus.”

I cannot imagine anything worse than having to think about the effect of your treatment on your unborn child. But is it common, you ask, that women are diagnosed with breast cancer while they’re pregnant? Here’s an answer for you:

Though still relatively rare (the rate of pregnancy-associated cancer is about 1 in 1,000 pregnancies), the incidence of pregnancy-associated breast cancer is considered to be on the rise.

Pamela Paul attributes this largely to the fact that women are having kids later in life … between 35 and 49 years of age … at an age when pregnancy and a breast cancer diagnosis are “most likely to collide.”

Ms. Paul also tells the stories of Lizette Irvin (pictured), Patty Murray and Anya Silver … all of whom were diagnosed with breast cancer during their pregnancies.

“What’s the next step?” she asked. Her oncologist said, “Honey, we start chemotherapy today.” Murray was stunned. She said she thought: “How is that possible? I can’t even take a Sudafed.”

Again … unimaginable to me.

This article is a must read!

Were any of you diagnosed when you were pregnant? Can any of you relate to this piece (or my reaction to it)? Let me know, please, in the comment section below.

(Image: Dan Winters; The New York Times)