For Maharashtra's Deepika Patil Gopnarayan, being a mother was the biggest dream she ever had. But little did she know that fate had planned a different route for her.
Jalgaon's Deepika decided to have a baby in 2020, 5 years after her marriage to Sugat. She was thrilled when she discovered being pregnant. "My husband was more excited than I was," she told The Logical Indian.
Then she was diagnosed with cancer
During the sixth month of pregnancy she discovered a lump in her breast which was diagnosed as PABC or pregnancy associated breast cancer. PABC is a rare form of cancer which is mostly seen in women between 32 to 38 years of age. However, Deepika was just 28 when she was pregnant.
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Her pregnancy condition did not allow her to undergo radiation. In order to deal with the cancer, she underwent 12 sessions of chemotherapy during her pregnancy.
She had no family history of cancer. However, when the lump grew from 1 cm to over 5 cm over a few weeks, the doctor immediately did a core needle biopsy," a MSN report says quoting an Indian Express report.
Deepika underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy during her pregnancy to shrink her tumor, her doctor says. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is given to a person before they receive their primary course of treatment.
“Contrary to common belief, modern-day chemotherapy for breast cancer can safely be administered during the second and third trimesters. Deepika handled chemotherapy without major complications. Her husband Sugat was very supportive and the couple had a very positive approach throughout treatments,” Dr Pranjali Gadgil, Breast Surgeon at Pune’s Jupiter hospital told the Indian Express.
Deepika responded well to the chemotherapy as her tumor reduced to less than 2 cm from 5.6 cm.
Genetic testing was also done for future risks.
Pregnancy and chemotherapy
Deepika handled the painful sessions of chemotherapy along with her pregnancy. "Every session was painful for me, and I could feel the same. In January 2021, I delivered a healthy baby boy, a fighter like me. It was a moment of great joy and relief, but the treatments were still not over. I underwent breast surgery and several other sessions of chemo and radiotherapy. People call me a cancer survivor, but I'm just a mother who battled the deadly disease for my baby," she told The Logical Indian.
Got back on track
Though she was out of cancer, the after effects troubled her. She took up fitness activities in order to get back on track. "It has been a long time, and with the support of my family, I am completely fine now. We spend a lot of time taking care of our baby, Swaraj. It has been a journey of ups and downs, but we, as a family, came out stronger," she says.
However, the ordeal was not over
As the labour date was nearing, one day Deepika experienced acute chest pain and collapsed. While her family suspected it to be a case of heart attack initially, later on it was found that she had COVID. “In the middle of the lockdown, we ran from pillar to post at midnight to find a facility which would allow a Covid-positive woman to deliver a child,” her husband told the Indian Express.
She underwent a labour pain of 40 hours. She didn't want a C-section surgery as she was not willing to have another surgery.
Swaraj was born in January 2021
In January 2021, Deepika delivered Swaraj, who weighed 3.35 kgs at that time. After the birth of her child she underwent 4 more chemotherapy sessions including a six hour surgery where the residual lump and lymph nodes were removed.
She also had 4 sessions of radiation totalling the number of sessions to 20.
Deepika’s journey had many obstacles but the mother in her gave her the courage to fight back everything and remain on track. Not just she broke the barriers, she broke several myths.
