A Thanksgiving gift: mother with aggressive cancer gives birth to healthy baby despite treatment

Erika believes that a terrible diagnosis while pregnant does not have to pit a mother against her child. “Rachel is the most obvious positive aspect of this journey. She is happy, healthy, very active, and very much a blessing.”  Birgit Jones, Erika’s mother, thinks that her daughter’s story has something to say to sick pregnant mothers who are being told by their doctors that they must choose between their own lives and those of their unborn babies.  “The vast majority of women (and doctors, it seems) simply are not aware of the option of treating cancer while pregnant and that it has been successful for twenty plus years,” said Birgit.