A baby delivered 12 weeks early so her mother could begin intensive treatment for breast cancer without harming the infant has died.
Heidi Loughlin, the girl’s mother, said Ally Louise, born by caesarean section on 11 December weighing 2lb 5oz (0.9kg), had died. The Somerset-based police officer announced the news in a poem titled Our Beautiful Girl on her blog about the cancer treatment.
Loughlin, 32, had been diagnosed in September with inflammatory breast cancer, a rare and fast-spreading form of the condition. Doctors said she could terminate her pregnancy to undergo aggressive treatment using the drug herceptin, which can harm a foetus, but Loughlin declined, beginning a milder treatment instead.
When doctors found this had failed to halt the cancer’s spread, Loughlin, who has two sons, opted to have her daughter delivered early before beginning the treatment with herceptin.
Initially all seemed well. Loughlin announced the birth with a post on her blog saying: “She came out foot first and is breathing on her own. She weighs 2lb 5ozs. She has a Loughlin nose and she has more hair than me!!!”
Four days later Loughlin updated her blog, saying her daughter was “doing so well and kicking arse”. But the next post came on Sunday, with the poem announcing her death. “We kissed you, we cuddled you, we tickled your feet,” it read. “And I know again one day we’ll meet.”
Writing at the start of the month on her blog, Storm in a Tit Cup, Loughlin explained the “absolutely terrifying” decision to have her daughter born prematurely.
“Also what is terrifying is that if I stay pregnant until New Year’s Eve as originally planned then there’s a pretty good chance I’ve missed my window of potential cure,” she wrote. “So what the hell do you do in this boat?”
The only possible choice, she said, was to be there for her children. She added: “But I’m scared to my core about a baby born so early. I am also scared that I may not get through this. Mostly I’m scared of doing the wrong thing.”
