A baby in the UK was miraculously 'born twice' after his mother was diagnosed with cancer.
Lucy Isaac, a 32-year-old teacher from Oxford, was 12 weeks pregnant when, during one of her routine ultrasound tests, she was told of the shocking news that she had ovarian cancer.
Doctors believed that delaying treatment until after birth would risk the rapid spread of cancer that would put the mother at risk.
Additionally, the fact that she was nearing the end of her first trimester meant that “standard keyhole surgery” wasn’t possible.
As a result, doctors began exploring alternative options.
A team of doctors at the John Radcliffe hospital, led by Dr Soleymani Majd, proposed a rare and complex procedure: the removal of cancerous cells while keeping the unborn child inside the womb but outside of the mother’s belly, during surgery.
At 20 weeks pregnant, Isaac then underwent a five-hour operation to remove the ovarian cancer. Surgeons temporarily removed her womb, containing her son, during the cancer treatment. They were carefully wrapped in a warm saline pack to ensure a safe temperature and environment, and were closely monitored by two medics. The pack was replaced every 20 minutes in order to prevent the baby’s temperature from dropping.
Medics were then able to remove a tumour sample from the mother, which, after examination, was classified as grade two cancer.
After successfully removing the cancerous tissue, the womb was then gently returned to its original position, and the mother’s abdomen was stitched back together.
The womb was outside of the mother’s body for a duration of two hours.
According to the Daily Mail, the baby was then delivered at full term, classifying this incident as a rare medical miracle.
The baby was named Rafferty. Isaac said that she felt “incredibly lucky” to have been diagnosed and treated, despite not feeling any prior symptoms.
&uuid=(email))