A mum fighting for her life in hospital is hoping to go on a holiday of a lifetime with her family once she is given the all clear.
Rebecca Turner, from Hethersett, thought she had back pain just like any other, but it would turn out to be something much more serious.
The 30-year-old began to feel pain in her upper back in January and a trip to the doctor revealed she would need physiotherapy.
But instead, she found the pain was getting worse. It became unbearable and she began to have night sweats and flu-like symptoms.
She said: “During that initial illness I found out I was pregnant, I was suffering severe morning sickness.
“Because of all the vomiting, I became very dehydrated, and it felt like it made my back pain so much worse.”
When things took a turn for the worse Rebecca was lying on the floor of A&E at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital unable to walk or talk through pain.
She said: “I had an x-ray as well as CT and MRI scans which found a 7cm mass in the area I had pain – I was immediately admitted to hospital for more testing.”
Following this Rebecca had to have several invasive biopsies to figure out what type of cancer it was, but she was determined to stay pregnant.
She said: “I was really unwell, vomiting every 20 minutes at the worst points, and I was receiving a lot of pain medication.
“After more scans and procedures, I was diagnosed with stage three melanoma cancer.”
To battle this cancer and save her life Rebecca needed to undergo immunotherapy but she and her partner, Jonathan Bayliss, were told she would not be able to go through treatment while pregnant.
Rebecca continued: “We made the gut-wrenching, heartbreaking decision to terminate our baby.
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“I gave birth at 13 weeks and five days to a baby girl who has been named Snowflake by our daughter Arielle, who is four.”
Snowflake will be buried at Colney Wood.
Rebecca has now been in hospital for 12 weeks, still struggling with severe pain and vomiting. She has had regular visits from Jonathan and Arielle.
She said: “I have remained very positive but to be honest, I am scared.
“Scared I won’t make it and I will leave my daughter without a mother, but I have so much more fight left in me to keep going.”
Rebecca has immunotherapy every three weeks to shrink the tumour, but it comes with some nasty side effects which have affected her breathing meaning she often needs oxygen and a nebuliser.
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She has also undergone an operation to insert a stent to stop the cancer from entering her lungs.
Rebecca added: “I keep fighting for Arielle and Jonny but also for my baby who had to be born before she was ready.
"I would have died if I didn’t start treatment, so I have to survive to honour her.”
And Jonathan has been being a “super dad” taking care of Arielle and making regular visits to see mummy in the hospital, but they have been struggling financially throughout this time.
“Money was already tight, but it’s worse than ever.”
To help ensure that Rebecca didn’t have to worry about money while she was in hospital her friends set up a JustGiving page to help raise money to cover petrol and food, which has already raised £900 of its £1,000 target.
But they also want to ensure that the family get to go on the holiday of dreams when Rebecca has recovered, they believe giving them something to look forward to will help to keep the family strong.
Rebecca has been moved to Priscilla Bacon Lodge where she is receiving more treatment and pain relief.
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