HEALTH GOSSIP: Breast cancer affected mother dies few months after giving birth to her child!!!

Breast cancer is more prevalent in women than men... It is the most common cancer affecting women.. However, it also affects men but to a minor percentage. When it comes to breast cancer, adequate measures should be taken to detect it early... But when it occurs, it can become a very tragic event... 
A father-of-two has spoken about the devastating loss of his wife after she developed breast cancer while pregnant. Mair Wallroth, 41, died just two months after giving birth to her son Merlin, after the cancer in her breast spread to her brain. Her widower Pete, 33, has now set up a charity to commemorate his late wife and help other parents who find themselves in a similarly desperate situation when expecting a child.

In Pete's words, ‘Mair was an inspiration to me.' ‘The first time I met her I was blown away by her gorgeous smile and positive, fun-loving nature.’Five years later they married and had their first child, Martha, now three. ‘In January 2012 we were thrilled when we discovered Mair was pregnant again with a baby boy.’ The pregnancy was going smoothly until 22 weeks when Mair, from Hadfield, Manchester, found a lump in her left breast.

At first, she thought it could possibly be a blocked milk duct, and part of the pregnancy. But in the middle of June, she received the devastating news that the lump was actually a 6.5cm cancerous tumour in her left breast. ‘I knew something was wrong because she rang me within 20 minutes of her appointment beginning,’ recalls Pete.

‘She already had an indication it was serious. Her mother and father had suffered from breast cancer, as had her two sisters. ‘Terminating the baby wasn’t an option so two weeks later, Mair began chemotherapy – we were told that there is no evidence that a child will be harmed late into pregnancy.’ Mair had four sessions before Merlin was born on 24th September. ‘Doctors would hook her up to the baby monitor so she could listen to the baby’s heartbeat while having chemo.

‘Mair decided to shave off her glossy brown hair and we told Martha that she was poorly and as her hair would’ve fallen out she didn’t want to make a mess. ‘Every morning, Martha pretended to be a scarf shop lady, helping Mair choose what to wear on her bald head.'

Yet despite being sick and tired from the chemotherapy, Mair was upbeat, smiling just hours before delivering their son, Merlin, weighing a healthy 7lb 1oz three weeks early in September last year.
This time, unlike with Martha, Mair couldn’t breastfeed because she had to start chemotherapy just a week after the birth.  Instead, Merlin was given donated milk from a milk bank.

After sometime, ‘She started getting headaches and blurred vision and went into hospital for scans. But things got worse and worse.' Following her seventh chemotherapy session, she became very unwell and was admitted to hospital in November with severe migraines, dehydration, sickness and blurred vision.  Doctors feared she was suffering from meningitis, but there was worse to come.


To the family’s horror, tests revealed the cancer had spread to her brain. Given the speed it was growing and Mair’s already poor state of health, doctors broke the heartbreaking news to Pete that the cancer was terminal and Mair had just six weeks to live.‘It was one of the loneliest things I have ever faced. Once again, our Macmillan nurse came to the rescue, breaking the awful news to Mair when I just didn’t have the strength.

‘But Mair told me off and to stop crying, saying she’d had two wonderful kids – her purpose in life.
She was very compassionate and gave all her time to everyone else. Even up to her death, her attitude was always ‘never mind’ me. Mair died aged 41 on 6th December last year in hospital when Merlin was just two months old and Martha was just three.

Pete said: ‘I took Martha to see her the day she died. Mair held her hand, and told her she loved her.
‘Mair’s sister Louise and I were in floods of tears.’‘At her funeral we wore rugby tops and party frocks like she would’ve wanted. ‘We still celebrated Christmas that year – I wanted the kids to have some normality.’

Ten months on and Merlin is now one. ‘He points to photos of Mair and tries to say “Mummy”,’ says Pete. I’ve kept a special box for him with the scarf and necklace Mair wore when he was born.  I told Martha that Mair had turned into fairy-dust and was a star that followed her around. 'Sometimes she says: ‘Why can’t I click my fingers and Mummy will reappear?’ It’s heartbreaking.’

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