{"id":442464,"date":"2026-05-24T03:29:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T03:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/442464\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T03:29:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T03:29:08","slug":"auckland-womans-molar-pregnancy-leads-to-rare-cancer-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/442464\/","title":{"rendered":"Auckland woman\u2019s molar pregnancy leads to rare cancer battle"},"content":{"rendered":"

During a dilation and curettage (D&C) procedure to remove tissue from the uterus, she suffered a severe haemorrhage and needed an emergency transfusion.<\/p>\n

\"SamieSamie learned she had molar pregnancy at 27. Photo \/ NZ Woman’s Weekly<\/p>\n

Samie also had to undergo two further procedures to stop the bleeding, including having a balloon-like device inserted in her uterus, and another to ensure all the tissue had been removed.<\/p>\n

A week after the final one, the promotions assistant for an Auckland radio network should have been starting to feel better, but something wasn\u2019t right.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was cramping, I was bleeding, I was in pain and still nauseous,\u201d she tells. \u201cIt was like my pregnancy symptoms, but amplified. I did some research and knew I shouldn\u2019t have been feeling like that. I saw that with a molar pregnancy, there is a slim chance it can turn into cancer. I went to my GP and said, \u2018I think I could have cancer.\u2019 But she thought I had a type of depression and referred me to a psychologist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Samie was adamant her symptoms were physical, not psychological, and she went to the hospital the next day for a second opinion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told them I thought it was cancer<\/a>, but they tried to send me home with Tramadol. I said, \u2018I\u2019m not moving from this bed until I get some answers.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

When her levels of hCG \u2013 the pregnancy hormone that is particularly high with molar pregnancies \u2013 were checked, they had risen since her D&C. \u201cThey should have dropped significantly,\u201d she says. \u201cI was sobbing \u2013 I knew it was a really bad sign.\u201d<\/p>\n

An X-ray and MRI revealed Samie\u2019s intuition was correct \u2013 there were between 25 and 30 tumours in her lungs. She had a rare and aggressive cancer called choriocarcinoma, which develops in placental cells and is most common in women who have had molar pregnancies.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause it had spread from my uterus to my lungs, it was stage four and it was so aggressive, I had to start chemotherapy straight away,\u201d she shares.<\/p>\n

\"SamieSamie with her mum and dad at her first chemo infusion. Photo \/ NZ Woman’s Weekly<\/p>\n

Even that wasn\u2019t straightforward. Her rheumatoid arthritis means she\u2019s allergic to the usual chemo drug given to patients with choriocarcinoma. Samie\u2019s doctors had to seek advice from experts in the UK before eventually finding the most suitable drugs to give her. The chemo had to be administered very slowly and sessions would take around 12-16 hours. During one session, she had an allergic reaction and passed out. She also became seriously ill after an infection in her portacath led to sepsis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve definitely done it the hard way,\u201d smiles Samie, despite everything she has been through.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After seven months of chemo, she finally received some good news \u2013 while she still has residual tumours in her lungs, they are not cancerous. She has blood tests every three months and if her hCG levels rise, she\u2019ll go back on chemo.<\/p>\n

Picking up the pieces of her life, Samie is grateful for the support from her partner, mum, nana and other family members. She says she\u2019d have been lost without nurses from the oncology department at Auckland Hospital and the Cancer Society<\/a>, who were only a phone call away when she was struggling.<\/p>\n

\"HappyHappy hugs from Samie’s mum Mellissa. Photo \/ Michelle Cutelli<\/p>\n

Samie and her partner would like to try again for a baby, although she knows there\u2019s a small risk of having another molar pregnancy. She tries to stay positive and says her experiences over the past 18 months have made her stronger.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve grown a backbone and I can say, \u2018No, I\u2019m not accepting that,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m determined that one day, somehow, I will have a baby.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During a dilation and curettage (D&C) procedure to remove tissue from the uterus, she suffered a severe haemorrhage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[28022,51,5837,17517,1558,225935,2534,13448,4731,59573,10044,13994,1888,38145,225932,305,134,296,19195,22055,424,5978,129441,13631,111,139,69,5994,10057,8205,225934,225933,19187,26639,3271,9100,1361,61,4518,2201,1316,102,5816],"class_list":["post-442464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-arthritis","tag-auckland","tag-battle","tag-because","tag-been","tag-bubbling","tag-cancer","tag-chronic","tag-days","tag-endometriosis","tag-excitement","tag-feared","tag-first","tag-happen","tag-happiest","tag-have","tag-health","tag-into","tag-johnsons","tag-leads","tag-life","tag-might","tag-molar","tag-never","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pregnancy","tag-problems","tag-rare","tag-rheumatoid","tag-samie","tag-scan","tag-shed","tag-should","tag-such","tag-that","tag-to","tag-weeks","tag-went","tag-when","tag-with","tag-womans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}