BREAKING NEWS: Mom Welcomes Baby After Cancerous Tumor Threatened Their Lives. Now She’s Looking Forward to Their First Christmas at Home .giang

An Illinois mom is thankful as she looks forward to celebrating her first Christmas with her son — months after doctors discovered a cancerous tumor and performed an emergency cesarean section to save their lives.

MaKenna Lauterbach, of Washburn, was 26 years old and expecting her first child in December 2023 when she developed a nagging cough, according to Northwestern Medicine.

Initially, doctors were hesitant to scan Lauterbach’s chest. But it didn’t go away and by the time she was 36 weeks pregnant, she began to throw up while coughing.

She eventually went to the hospital, where doctors did imaging that revealed “a large, grapefruit-sized tumor in her middle chest cavity and right lung.”

The tumor completely blocked the artery to Lauterbach’s right lung, meaning neither she nor her baby were getting proper amounts of oxygen, Northwestern Medicine said.

Lauterbach was subsequently flown to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, where she was treated by a large team of doctors in the intensive care unit.

Upon noticing MaKenna’s blood pressure was rising and she was contracting, doctors realized the mom and baby were not well. Doctor Lynn Yee, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Northwestern Medicine, said doctors “had to act quickly” to save the pair.

On March 31, 2024 — which also happened to be Easter Sunday — Yee performed an emergency cesarean section on Lauterbach, bringing her baby boy, Colter, into the world.

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According to Northwestern Medicine, doctors later diagnosed MaKenna with stage 3 melanoma. “The tumor was sitting on top of MaKenna’s heart and extended into the right lung,” said Dr. Kalvin Lung, who helped remove the growths in surgery.

The Illinois mom had her entire right lung removed, as well as and parts of the main pulmonary artery and lymph nodes.

Doctors believe MaKenna likely had a melanoma on her skin before the tumor developed inside her body.

Her current scans “show no evidence of metastatic melanoma,” according to Doctor Sunandana Chandra, a medical oncologist with the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at the hospital.

“Medically, this is an amazing story with profound results,” Chandra said. “This type of outcome for our patients is what we always hope for.”

Dr. Chris Mehta, a cardiac surgeon with Northwestern Medicine, said tumors that invade major blood vessels of the heart are “extremely rare,” adding, “We may see something like this once every few years.”

Lauterbach is thankful for the doctors and the treatment she received from them. “Because of Northwestern Medicine, I’m here today,” she explained, later adding, “I can’t say enough about the wonderful medical team that saved my life. “

The Illinois mom and her husband Parker are now celebrating her first Christmas on their farm with little Colter, who Lauterbach described as “the best baby.”

“I’m so grateful to have Colter and Parker in my life,” she remarked.

“It brings tears to my eyes to see MaKenna doing so well, and seeing Colter thriving is amazing,” added Dr. Yee. “It just goes to show that when you get all the right medical teams in place, you can truly help families thrive.”