Skip to content

'Pregnancy scan saved me as medics found cancer'

Sophie Madden
BBC News, West Midlands
BBC A woman with dark brown hair to her shoulders, in a white t-shirt with pink lettering, sitting in a garden next to a hedge. Brown-brick flats can be seen behind her. The woman is smiling at someone in front of her to her right and wearing a small microphone on the collar of her t-shirt.BBC
Lucy opted to delay her cancer surgery and continue with her pregnancy

A mother says her pregnancy helped save her life when a cancerous cyst was discovered during a routine scan.

Lucy, 28, from Burton-on-Trent, was having an early pregnancy scan when the cyst was first spotted on one of her ovaries.

It was removed during her caesarian section to deliver twins Ronnie and Reuben on 28 February 2023.

Medical staff at Queens Hospital Burton, part of the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust, said it was incredible the cyst was found.

Derby and Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust A black and white image shows an ultrasound scan. Inside it can be seen a large white shape, which is the cancerous cyst.Derby and Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The cyst's growth was identified when Lucy went for her 20-week scan

Although the cyst was seen early, it did not become a real concern until Lucy's 20-week monitoring scan when it had grown to 30cm (11.8in).

The hospital offered her the difficult choice of whether to have surgery to remove it or continue with her pregnancy and leave it in place.

"The risk of having the surgery so early on in my pregnancy was that there was quite a high chance of us losing the boys," she said.

A woman on the right with tied up brown hair is wearing a white T-shirt and smiles as she holds one of her twin sons, who is wearing a red jumper with illustrations on it. The other twin, dressed identically, is being held another woman who is wearing a green cardigan. In the middle of them stands a woman dressed in blue scrubs with curly grey hair, and another woman wearing black framed glasses, a green shirt and black cardigan.
Lucy was reunited with the medics who cared for her and her twins at Queens Hospital

In the end, her medical team monitored the cyst and plans were made to remove it during a planned C-section at 34 weeks.

It was only after the family returned home that Lucy found out the cyst was a Grade 1 mucinous carcinoma.

Dr Nicole Pope, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, who worked alongside Consultant James Hollingworth to perform Lucy's Caesarean section said: "This cancer would have spread because ovarian cancer is not usually picked up until very very late.

"The pregnancy saved her life."

"Somebody was obviously looking over me," Lucy said.

"Everyday I think how all three of us are here, healthy and happy, its just a miracle."

A woman with shoulder-length wavy brown hair poses in a brown dress with a bow at the centre, she holds a mobile phone in a black case with yellow and red flowers. She has a visible baby bump.
Lucy carried the twins until the 34th week of her pregnancy

Lucy's mother, Mandy, added: "[Ronnie and Ruben] bring absolute joy into everyone's lives.

"It makes me upset thinking that we might not have had them.

"You can't feel down in the dumps for any more than 20 seconds when you're in their company."

Family Twin newborns are wrapped in baby blue coloured blankets. They are lying on white fleece with young girl in between them. She has long blond hair and is smiling. She is wearing a cream cable knit jumper. Family
The twins, pictured with older sister Isla, spent some time in the neonatal intensive care unit before returning home

University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust says ovarian cancer is rare in someone of Lucy's age, and it appeared without symptoms so was only identified because of the routine scan.

Rachel Hine, the sonographer who first found the cyst during the scans, added: "Its lovely to see Lucy, she's looking so well and the twins are just amazing."

Lucy, whose recent scans show is cancer free, added: "I'll forever owe it to the twins that if it wasn't for them I could have not been here.

"Which is scary but also amazing."

More on this story
Related internet links