Cancer-Battle Mum Refused To Abort Her Unborn Child

Cancer-Battle Mum Refused To Abort Her Unborn Child

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Hugs don't come much more special than those shared by Lyndsey Crowder and her four-year-old daughter Sidney Rose.

For mum Lyndsey gambled with her life to bring her little girl in the world. Thankfully, it was a gamble that paid off.

When she fell pregnant with Sidney Rose, Lyndsey, 34, had already lost three babies and was then given the devastating news that she had Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

Doctors warned her that chemotherapy risked harming both Lyndsey and her unborn child, so advised her to terminate.

But Lyndsey, from Walton, Merseyside, couldn't bear to lose another child after all she'd been through.

She said: "To my mind there was no choice. I knew I had to give the baby a chance."

The doctors explained it was unclear what effect chemotherapy could have on her unborn child or how significant a strain a pregnancy could be on her already weakened body.

With a tumour the size of a small football in her chest Lyndsey began eight rounds of gruelling chemotherapy.

She said: "I had scan after scan to check on the baby and even though everything looked fine it wasn't until she was born and I saw her that I could believe she'd be OK."

Sidney Rose was safely delivered by Caesarean at 34 weeks.

Her arrival was made even more special as Lyndsey and her husband Nick had already experienced terrible tragedies trying to become parents.

Their first daughter Alice, was stillborn, and then Lyndsey miscarried twins.

When she found out she had cancer after getting pregnant with Sidney Rose, Lyndsey recalled:

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I thought, I can deal with the cancer but I cannot lose another baby. I just knew I would do whatever it took to get that child into the world. The rest was in God's hands.

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"When she arrived she had more hair than me and was perfect. After nine months of fighting for her it was amazing to hear her cry. I just lay there and thought, 'my work is done'."

Lyndsey has now been in remission for 30 months and Sidney Rose is everything a parent could wish for.

Lyndsey said: '"At times it feels as if it's happened to someone else and I have to pinch myself to remember it's all been real.

"But if one person reads this and it gives them hope, whether they're fighting cancer or trying to have children, then I have done my job."

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