31-year-old Melissa Gormley and boyfriend Dave Good were both thrilled and surprised to hear that Melissa was pregnant with a baby girl. Tragically, the pleasant news was soon followed by a heartbreaking diagnosis, as they found out a malicious cancer tumor was growing in Melissa.
After about fourteen weeks in during pregnancy, the couple went to the doctor because Melissa was bleeding. They didn’t know the gender yet and the doctor informed them that they would be having a baby girl, but it wasn’t the only thing that the doctor needed to let them know. He diagnosed Melissa with Stage 1 cervical cancer.
“We were so excited and were finally over the shock of ‘we’re pregnant,’” Dave said to the Daily Local News. “We were finally starting to be like, ‘this is awesome, we’re going to be able to start our life together’ and then we get this news and we wondered, what does that mean for our new life? Did it mean it couldn’t happen anymore? Can we still have the baby? Is Melissa going to be OK? That was hard for me because it put a halt on everything.”
Because she was diagnosed with cervical cancer, doctors gave the couple the option to abort the baby, because Melissa’s health was seriously in peril. For these two, abortion was never an option. Melissa kept on fighting for her baby girl.
“Ending the pregnancy was not an option for me,” she said. “I knew that right from the beginning. Even if they were like ‘we can’t do anything for you,’ I would’ve waited. I was really just concerned for her.”
Even though chemotherapy was thought to be unsafe during pregnancies, recent research has shown us that the procedure is safe for the baby during pregnancy. Melissa underwent a number of harsh chemotherapy rounds. At that point, the doctors still weren’t quite sure what the extent of the cancerous tumor was, even though it had been classified as Stage 1. Melissa herself kept thinking that if she wasn’t pregnant, the tumor might’ve been found when it would already be too late.
One thing was an absolute priority for Melissa, and that was that her baby girl.
“There are definitely times where I break down crying,” Gormley said. “It’s scary thinking about all the what ifs. Like, what if it doesn’t work? What if something happens during delivery? All of those thoughts go through your head. She’s moving a lot now, so every time we have that I just think, we’re doing all this so she’s healthy, so I’m healthy, so I can be there for her. That kind of helps me get through it.”
“If we’re feeling sad about something, we’re like, ‘do you want to listen to the heartbeat,’ and it helps us feel better,” said Good, who uses an at-home fetal doppler.
Olivia “Liv” Madeline Good was born via a C-section procedure on July 24, 2017, at 33 weeks in pregnancy. Mom had to undergo surgery directly after giving birth to treat the tumor.
“She came out crying for her mommy, but had to settle for meeting daddy a few minutes later,” dad Dave wrote on Facebook. “Mommy’s surgery went well, but lasted a little longer than we expected. She’s finally out and awake, recovering in the ICU… We will post pictures of Olivia as soon as mommy gets to meet her. Thank you for all of your kind words, love, and support. We couldn’t have done this without you. We’re anxiously awaiting the good news that mommy is healthy enough to see baby!”
Melissa was finally able to see her baby girl two days later. Her surgery went longer than expected but went well overall. She still needs a breathing apparatus and a feeding tube, but according to Dave, both mother and daughter are doing well.
There’s no stronger bond than the love between a parent and their child!
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