The young woman discovered at the same time that she was both pregnant and had cancer. She was nervous and excited at the same time. One week after she discovered that she was pregnant, she received a call from her doctor and discovered that she had cancer. “It’ is a more aggressive type of cancer and it’s harder to treat. That was scary getting that news that I have a more aggressive type. But a positive to that with being pregnant is that the pregnancy wasn’t fueling the cancer. It’s not a common thing being pregnant and being young and being diagnosed with cancer. So it was hard. A lot of doctors were like, ‘There’s not a lot of data.’” the unfortunate mother said.
During an interview with TODAY, the 35-year-old woman from Ohio, Stephanie Rifici, said that while she was breastfeeding her son, Luca, she reportedly noticed hard milk calcifications. But, the young woman was not worried, because they would later disappear. Unfortunately, one day she reportedly noticed a lump in her left breast that didn’t go away. Few months later, she became worried because the lump was still there.
Rifici then went to the hospital and discovered that she was pregnant before her biopsy results returned. She said that she was nervous and excited at the same time. One week after she discovered that she was pregnant, she received a call from her doctor and discovered that she had breast cancer.
According to Daily Mail, in Sept. 2020, Rifici was diagnosed with stage 2 triple negative breast cancer.
Stephanie Rifici reportedly told TODAY: “It’ is a more aggressive type of cancer and it’s harder to treat. That was scary getting that news that I have a more aggressive type. But a positive to that with being pregnant is that the pregnancy wasn’t fueling the cancer. It’s not a common thing being pregnant and being young and being diagnosed with cancer. So it was hard. A lot of doctors were like, ‘There’s not a lot of data.’”
Unfortunately, the 35-year-old woman and her husband, Evan Thorkelson, didn’t know if she could be treated for cancer while being pregnant and some doctors they visited early on didn’t offer many answers.
Rifici’s 33-year-old husband, Evan Thorkelson, told TODAY:
“We struggled. Some people said: “You’ve got to look out for Steph. She’s the mom. You already have a son. You want to make sure that Steph’s around for your other son.’ We were so happy we were able to get pregnant and have another son. But we don’t want anything to happen to Steph.
We did struggle because at times. We would think, ‘Whoa, are we jeopardizing Steph’s well-being by keeping this baby?’ Because obviously if the baby’s born but Steph passes away what have we really accomplished? We were told that if we wanted to have the baby that there would be a method and a treatment plan and they felt fairly confident that we could keep the pregnancy and go with the treatment.”
The doctors then told the mother that when she is in the second trimester it’s safe to do surgery and to do chemotherapy. Her doctor that she should go back for another ultrasound on her tumor just to make sure that the tumor hasn’t grown. This is because the triple negative tumors tend to grow very fast and very aggressive, she said.
According to Daily Mail, for triple negative breast cancer, doctors usually recommend chemotherapy, surgery then radiation. But, Rifici’s doctors thought it would be better for her to change the order. The surgeons reportedly decided that they should remove the tumor first. The doctors then recommended chemotherapies, which are effective for triple negative breast cancer, but don’t spread into the placenta.
The surgeons even had a little fetal monitor so they could monitor the baby through her surgery. Rifici told TODAY that the surgery was a success and they were able to get the whole tumor out of there with clear margins.
Rifici gave birth to her son Leo on April 21, 2021. After the childbirth, the brave woman reportedly completed more chemotherapy and 30 radiation treatments. She later completed her cancer treatment, and celebrated her son’s birthday earlier this year, and even plans to return to work now that she is feeling better again.