For most expecting mothers, pregnancy means preparing for new life. But for one South Florida doctor, it also meant fighting for her own.<\/p>\n
In 2019, Dr. Christina Ortega, a neuropsychologist at Joe DiMaggio Children\u2019s Hospital who helps young cancer patients and their families, suddenly found herself on the other side of the diagnosis. <\/p>\n
At just 34 years old and 19 weeks pregnant with her second child, she was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the beginning, it was just complete fear and anxiety,\u201d Ortega said. \u201cMentally, I was just circling the rabbit hole. I had no idea what was going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doctors initially believed the lump she found was a clogged duct, but further testing revealed it was something far more serious.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing diagnosed with cancer while pregnant is not common at all,\u201d said Dr. Atif Hussein, an oncologist at Memorial Cancer Institute. \u201cWhen we see this, it stays with us because it’s so uncommon and complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Hussein, about one in every 3,000 pregnant women in the U.S. are diagnosed with breast cancer, making Ortega\u2019s case rare and complex.<\/p>\n
Despite fear and uncertainty, Ortega decided to continue her pregnancy while undergoing treatment. With the help of her care team at Memorial Cancer Institute, her treatment plan was carefully tailored so she could safely fight cancer and carry her baby to full term.<\/p>\n
\u201cChristina was so brave making that decision,\u201d said Hussein. \u201cKnowing her cancer was aggressive, she made a very quick decision with her husband that she was going to carry on this pregnancy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ortega endured six rounds of chemotherapy while pregnant, followed by surgery and radiation treatments after giving birth. Her journey stretched nearly three years.<\/p>\n
Through it all, she stayed focused on one goal, delivering a healthy baby girl.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I got my team in place, my high-risk OB, my perinatologist, and all the other specialists, everyone was on the same page,\u201d she said. \u201cThey felt confident we could do this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ortega welcomed her daughter, Zoe, who she affectionately calls her \u201cchemo baby.\u201d Zoe was born healthy at 39 weeks and recently celebrated her sixth birthday.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s feisty and fantastic, full of life, full of energy, super smart and witty, she just blows us away every day\u201d Ortega said.<\/p>\n
Today, Ortega shows no evidence of disease and continues to inspire others through her story reminding women everywhere that early detection and self-advocacy can save lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf something doesn\u2019t feel right, speak up,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019d rather have something checked and find out it\u2019s nothing, than ignore it and find out it\u2019s too late.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you or someone you know is pregnant and concerned about breast health, experts recommend performing regular self-exams and speaking with your healthcare provider about any changes you notice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For most expecting mothers, pregnancy means preparing for new life. But for one South Florida doctor, it also…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,571,11243,11244],"class_list":["post-12352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-health","tag-health-science","tag-health-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}