Earlier this year, a pregnant Chicago mom almost lost her life when doctors discovered she had a rare tumor. But against all odds, she’s celebrating her first Christmas with her baby boy instead. After MaKenna Lauterbach experienced coughing fits in her final trimester, she received a scary diagnosis. But thanks to her medical team, this story has a happy ending.
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At the end of her pregnancy, Lauterbach began to experience severe coughing fits.
According to what she told Fox News Digital, the mom, who was 26 at the time, was coughing so severely she would “become winded and nauseous to the point of vomiting.” She even struggled to breathe as she cared for the horses and goats who live on her farm.
“I give hay to the horses every morning and noticed how winded I was becoming with a dry cough,” she told the outlet. “My body felt like I just ran two miles, when, in reality, I had only walked to the barn and back.”
Doctors brushed her off at first, but later discovered a grapefruit-sized tumor blocking the artery to her right lung.
In a press release from Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute, Dr. Chris Mehta described the tumor as “extremely rare.” Once doctors discovered what they were dealing with, it became an emergency situation. Lauterbach was flown to Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where her baby arrived on Easter via emergency C-section.
“When you’re pregnant with a baby that’s nearly full term, your lungs already aren’t functioning at full capacity, and when you add a huge tumor on top of it, you run the risk of having respiratory collapse and cardiac arrest,” fetal medicine specialist Dr. Lynn Yee said in the release.
Lauterbach was then diagnosed with stage 3 melanoma.
The new mom described the moment she received her diagnosis as “blindsiding” while talking to Fox News Digital.
“Because of the tumor, the delivery happened so quickly. I was grieving the birth plan I had spent months preparing, while also dealing with the news of my unexpected diagnosis,” she said. “My situation was serious, and while my clinical team was working on a plan to treat my cancer, it was comforting to know that the NICU nurses [at Northwestern] were taking such wonderful care of our son.”
Her treatment was intense.
After three rounds of immunotherapy were able to shrink her tumor by 30%. In addition, doctors removed Lauterbach’s right lung, along with her lymph notes and part of her main pulmonary artery. Though the surgery was risky, it was successful. Since then, her scans remain clear, showing no sign of cancer. She says she does still struggle with shortness of breath because she only has one lung.
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Her son is now 3 months old.
Her baby boy, whose name is Colter, is doing well. His mom said he has helped give her “the strength to make it through everything.”
“As for myself, I am still healing, emotionally and physically,” Lauterbach told Fox News Digital. “My lung capacity is getting close to ‘the new normal’ for me and I’m finally starting to return to some sort of normal routine.”
