‘I went into hospital for baby scan – then doctors told me I was dying’

Haelwyn Adams, 41, was pregnant when she claims doctors dismissed her stomach pain as period pain and IBS for years before she was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer

Haelwyn Adams was looking forward to the future when she went into hospital for her 20-week pregnancy scan – but she was discomforted by stomach pain that had been “tormenting” her for years.

The mum-to-be and partner Luke had endured a traumatic journey to becoming parents, complete with miscarriages.

They thought they had turned a corner when Haelwyn keeled over during her scan.

She wrote in the Times that her complaints about her pain were finally taken seriously after years of being ignored, when she was given the devastating diagnosis that she had stage four colon cancer with a rare mutation, which had already spread to her liver, reports the Mirror.

The doctors gave her a choice – terminate the pregnancy, allowing them to remove the tumour and start on chemotherapy straight away. Or continue with the pregnancy, with surgeons removing as much of the primary tumour as possible while protecting the foetus.

Haelwyn described it as “the easiest decision ever”. She added: “I’m 41 years old and I’m dying. I don’t know how long I’ve got – a week, a month, a year. Nobody is talking about a decade.”

She experienced pain each time her unborn daughter kicked. Ultimately, the baby was delivered at 32 weeks as she could scarcely breathe with the liver tumours pressing against her lower lung.

Their daughter, Magnolia Sunshine, was born before being instantly separated from her mother.

Haelwyn’s concerns about her stomach pain were ignored for years.

Doctors attributed her symptoms to severe period pain, IBS, stress, or, after she and now-husband Luke embarked on IVF, hormonal side-effects, as she appeared young, fit and healthy.

Following one of her miscarriages, Haelwyn pushed for a colonoscopy to investigate her pain. However, a doctor insisted she was “simply too young to have colon cancer” and instead opted for a sigmoidography examining only the lower bowel.

Her fears were not taken seriously until the fateful day of her 20-week scan.

Magnolia was separated from her mother after being born so Haelwyn could begin treatment.

She said: “From that moment, my days telescoped into a binary routine, by night, journeying into the natal intensive care unit to sit with my daughter, by day, journeying to the edge of my will to live. I had been willing to die for her, but living for her now seemed almost too hard.”

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The new mother was briefly cancer free in January this year and she hoped the super-aggressive chemo had worked. However, it returned with a vengeance in March, with tumours in both sides of her liver, and her treatment is now focused on management rather than cure.

She and Luke wed in June, in case she died during an operation to reverse the stoma from the colostomy she underwent during pregnancy.

She added: “It’s hard marrying someone to make them a widower but Luke is the love of my life, my person, my team-mate – and I know how strong he is.”

Haelwyn and Luke created a JustGiving page, aiming to raise £150,000 to “protect my husband and little girl from the financial burden this disease leaves behind”. To make a donation, visit here.