While she was pregnant, Maëlle discovered that she had aggressive breast cancer. She tells us about her journey as a young mother facing illness, the challenges of a weakened motherhood and the resilience of her body, which continues to support her despite everything.
Maëlle’s fight begins at the dawn of her 30th birthday without warning. At that time, the young woman was 7 months pregnant. Her pregnancy is well underway, she thinks she has done the hardest part until the day she learns the unthinkable. “I felt this lump in my breast in October 2017, for the first time. I felt stabbing. As my mother had had pre-cancerous cells in her chest, I wanted to consult quickly. I’ve stopped getting angry: when you want to do a mammogram under 30, they don’t take you seriously, despite the prescription, they tell me about a fibroadenoma, nothing to worry about, come and get it checked! four months later, I am reassured, I am embarking on a baby project with my partner with whom I have been with for 15 years. she tells us.
The months pass and the time comes for Maëlle to have her mammogram. The exam goes off without a hitch, and he is told “Everything is normal, don’t worry!“. Hearing this sentence, the mother-to-be comes out with peace of mind and continues her pregnancy. At the same time, her mother has a recurrence of her cancer, and at that moment, the young woman begins to develop strange pains. , which she blames on her pregnancy. “My pelvis hurts, my neck is so stiff that I can no longer lift my head to look at the sky. I convince myself that pregnancy and the 20 kilos that go with it explain these discomforts. My breast is becoming more and more rigid , the lump grows, and at the next appointment with my gynecologist, I ask her to feel me. The expression on her face changes the minute she touches me. She sends me for an emergency ultrasound. she explains.
The ultrasound machine can’t tell her what’s wrong, she thinks it’s mastitis, which is surprising given that she’s not in pain. “While searching on the internet, I realized that my symptoms are similar to a cancer be you inflammatory, except that the latter does not hurt. My next appointment with the gynecologist confirms this fear: I have stage 4 HER2 positive cancer, I have a lump measuring 7 centimeters in diameter in the breast, the subsequent scan reveals that it has metastasized to the bones, from the neck to the sacrum, via the liver. It’s August 2018, I’m 32 weeks pregnant, and after 10 months of diagnosis wandering, I finally know what I have.” she explains.
Time is running out, he is told. “One of the first things that comes to mind is that I won’t see my son grow up, that someone other than me will raise him. It’s out of the question. In a few minutes, I transforms me into a war machine: it’s just a setback in my life, I don’t ask myself any questions, I do everything I’m told to do.” The appointments follow one another, as do the treatments and chemotherapy. Carrying life, the drugs offered to him do not pass the placental barrier. A few weeks later, to avoid taking any risks, Maëlle’s delivery was planned by cesarean section, so that she could begin another, more aggressive treatment.
Maëlle, on the Rose Trip trek, after overcoming her breast cancer © Jane Roussel
At this point, her pregnancy takes a completely different turn, nothing is spontaneous anymore. “I regret telling myself that I will not experience contractions, that I will not be the one who gives him life, someone will come and take him from me and I will be asleep. Forever, the date of his birth is linked to my illness, I’m angry on September 14, I’m already wearing a scarf to hide my hair loss when I arrive at the maternity ward.” she remembers. His son was born, his name is Yann. Examinations reveal that the start of his treatment had no impact on his health. “This period is both filled with the joy of meeting my son and terribly difficult. I’m sick, I still have 20 extra kilos, and I know it’s not going to calm down anytime soon, with the medication, it is no longer in my stomach and a big fight awaits me My reflection in the mirror is difficult to face”, says the young mother.
Two weeks later, Maëlle returns to chemo, one more step. “I’m exhausted the first few days, I’m losing my memory, my skin is extremely dry, my eyes too. I’m afraid of not being able to take care of my baby. But I’m incredibly lucky, is an easy baby, who sleeps, eats, smiles and starts again! My partner is taking three months off to face this period, which is ultimately going quite well.” After five months of intensive chemotherapy, the good news comes: “I am in total remission”. The last scan reveals that there is no longer any metastasisthat the lump in her breast has completely disappeared. The cancer is gone, as if gone. And three years later, Maëlle gave herself a new challenge: going to the Sahara desert to do the Rose Trip, a three-day orientation trek, 100% feminine and supportive, committed to the fight against breast cancer . Mission accomplished, “I feel alive again!”
Comments collected in 2021.
