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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
Damon Cronshaw

'He's perfect': the boy who mum feared would never be born

Natasha Eaton with son Jack Cooper, 14. Natasha fell pregnant with him six months after cancer treatment. Picture by Simone De Peak

Natasha Eaton is extra grateful to have son Jack Cooper, given his birth was unexpected and uncertain.

Miss Eaton fell pregnant with him six months after treatment for breast cancer, after being involved in a clinical trial that put her ovaries "to sleep".

She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008 at age 32 and was soon treated with surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

But she feared that the chemotherapy would prevent her from having children.

"I was devastated - crying, yelling in the street that I was never going to become a mother," she said.

Her oncologist, Professor Fran Boyle, suggested she take part in a clinical trial through the Newcastle-based Breast Cancer Trials.

"They explained the drug would essentially put my ovaries to sleep and protect them from the chemotherapy," Miss Eaton said.

She will speak about her experience on Tuesday night at a free online question and answer event on fertility and breast cancer.

Annabel Crabb. Picture supplied

ABC broadcaster Annabel Crabb will moderate the event.

"My sister-in-law is a breast cancer survivor," Ms Crabb wrote last year, adding that several others she knew were fighting cancer.

"So I'm always keen to get better at understanding."

Miss Eaton was given the drug goserelin while receiving chemotherapy. It disrupts the body's hormonal feedback systems, resulting in reduced oestrogen production.

When she had a scan a few months after treatment, her ovaries were "still asleep".

"So I thought they'd stay dormant and not come back out," she said.

When she fell pregnant with her son six months after treatment, she feared it was too soon.

But Jack, now 14, was born in good health.

"He's perfect, other than he got my shortsightedness. None of my treatment affected him at all," she said.

"It's really cool what they were able to achieve."

Miss Eaton had triple negative breast cancer, a more aggressive type of tumour with a faster growth rate and higher risk of spreading to other parts of the body.

A panel of experts and affected women will discuss this type of cancer during the online event.

Researchers will highlight the latest in research and clinical trials to improve treatment and patient results.

Breast Cancer Trials has been researching new and better treatments for triple negative breast cancer, a type that accounts for about 15 per cent of breast cancers.

Anyone can be diagnosed with this cancer type, but it occurs more often in younger patients who are pre-menopausal or under 50.

People with the BRCA1 gene mutation also have a higher risk of this type of breast cancer.

Fewer treatment options are available, as this cancer type doesn't have common receptors for medications such as hormone drugs.

However, the Chariot clinical trial examined the effectiveness of two anti-cancer immunotherapy drugs added to standard chemotherapy.

This showed promising results in patients with treatment resistant, early-stage triple negative breast cancer.

Panel experts will include professors Sunil Lakhani and Sherene Loi.

The latest research of Professor Lakhani, chair of the Breast Cancer Trials board, includes whole genome sequencing in high-risk breast cancer patients.

The work of Professor Loi, a Breast Cancer Trials director and medical oncologist, has led to new insights in the breast cancer immunology field.

The event runs from 5pm to 6.30pm. Register at breastcancertrials.org.au.

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