The Doctors: New Mom Beats Cancer After Pregnancy + Choriocarcinoma

The Doctors: New Mom Beats Cancer After Pregnancy

As Dr. Travis Stork said, having a baby is supposed to be the happiest time of your life, but for Kat, “the miracle of life came with some very startling news.”

Kat shared that she became pregnant with her son Jack in July 2012. After the birth of her son, she was feeling nauseous a lot with severe abdominal cramping. She said she thought it was just a normal part of the postpartum experience, but a couple weeks later she bent over to do something and felt a very large gush of blood, and called her OB/GYN. She went in for her six-week follow-up with her OB/GYN and the nurse pulled her hand out and said she couldn’t do the exam because she had so much bleeding.

She said she started pushing on her abdomen, and questioned why her uterus was over to the side of her stomach. They transferred her to the hospital and the doctor sat down and told her she had Choriocarcinoma, stage 3, that had spread to her lungs.

The Drs: What Is Choriocarcinoma?

The Doctors shared a definition for Choriocarcinoma: “A fast growing cancer that forms in a woman’s uterus. The abnormal cells start in the tissue that normally becomes the placenta.”

Kat explained that there were hundreds to thousands of cysts on her ovaries, and overnight went from there being nothing wrong, to her first day of chemotherapy. She received five chemotherapy drugs. Kat shared the video of her getting her head shaved and then explained that she wasn’t allowed to nurse anymore and was told by the doctors that she was toxic. She said she spent a lot of time unable to even touch her son.

She then shared that after she finished chemo, she had a full body scan done, and doctors found out that all of the lung nodules were gone and they saw a little bit of tissue still in her uterus.

Kat was on the show with her husband Jim and shared that she has been cancer-free for 11 months.

The Drs: New Mom Beats Post-Pregnancy Cancer + What Is GTD?

Dr. Jennifer Ashton explained that this is one of the worst things in obstetrics that they would have to tell a new mom who’s just been pregnant. She said it’s a fairly uncommon type of cancer and falls under GTD, or Gestational Trophoblastic Disease. She said it starts with a couple abnormal cells that would’ve developed into the placenta. She said typically it comes with a lot of heavy bleeding and abdominal pain, but the good thing is that with aggressive chemotherapy it can be treated and cured. 

Kat’s son Jack was also on the show, which was perfect, since the doctors wanted to surprise the family with a trip to Bora Bora for the perfect getaway to paradise. The trip even included a spa and wellness treatment. Much deserved!