Two Heartbeats and a Diagnosis: Cancer During Pregnancy Stories

Inside this volume

Fifty first-person accounts describe cancer found during pregnancy, across breast, cervical, thyroid, blood, bone, bowel, brain and many rarer cancers. Writers came to the diagnosis through a routine cervical test, a mole a husband noticed while putting on sunscreen, a seizure at a supermarket checkout, a fever that would not break at twenty-two weeks, bruises with no cause, a jaw that swelled overnight and a pregnancy test that stayed positive after a miscarriage. They include a market trader in Lagos who sold everything for treatment, a seafarer's wife in Quezon City, a trail runner in Cape Town who lost a kidney at twenty weeks, a single cashier in Detroit living with her grandmother, and a woman travelling a full day by bus from the mountains to Lima. Places run from Pune and Seoul to Oslo and Quebec City. The book covers chemotherapy during pregnancy, surgery mid-pregnancy, waiting for a drug that could not be given until after birth, early deliveries, fertility-sparing surgery, twins, interpreters, faith and breastfeeding questions. Many end with a child on a lap and a cake at the end of treatment. Not all do: one writer still thinks about a decision she made at eight weeks, another lives with lung cancer that cannot be cured, and the editors note that some stories end in loss.

Who it's for

For anyone told they have cancer while pregnant, and for the partners, mothers, friends and clinicians trying to understand what it is like to carry both pieces of news at once.

Format · Instant download · PDF & EPUB · Fifty first-person accounts · PDF: 231 pages

A collection of personal testimony, offered as companion reading — not medical advice.

• 50 single-author testimonies from real people
• A short, plain-language introduction to the topic
• Editor's note, contents page, and curated resource list
• Professional interior typesetting and an original cover

Every purchase includes a print-quality PDF (best for desktop, tablet, and printing) and a reflowable EPUB (best for Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, and phones). Files are DRM-free. You can download both instantly from the order-confirmation screen, and we email them to your inbox as well, so your books are always within reach.