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Samantha Bladwell thought something was wrong when she was 30 weeks pregnant. But he thought it had to do with the baby. Photo / news.com.au
An Australian mother’s lung cancer symptoms were masked by her pregnancy for months and she almost discovered the deadly disease too late. Now she is warning other moms not to make the same mistake and get tested ahead of time.
Samantha Bladwell thought something was wrong when she was 30 weeks pregnant. But he thought it had to do with the baby. He never imagined it was cancer.
Every time she climbed a hill to get to her home in Brisbane, the healthy 36-year-old would gasp and reach the top gasping for air.
It turned out to be stage four lung cancer.
Bladwell decided enough was enough after giving a presentation at work and had trouble speaking due to shortness of breath.
He took the doctor.
Her GP said it was probably nothing to worry about, but sent her for tests.
After a CT scan, a biopsy, and a conversation with a number of specialists, she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer – in the lungs, spine, and brain.
Right up to detection, Bladwell had convinced herself that it was probably just the baby, or even a blood clot.
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“It was very surreal and it was all a little blurry,” she told Kidspot.
Bladwell, now 38, shares her story so others don’t make the same mistakes.
She blamed her shortness of breath on the expected baby and also assumed that the lung cancer patients were older people who had spent their lives smoking.
Bladwell has never smoked a cigarette in his life. It is an assumption that you have to defend every time you explain your situation to someone.
“People assume that if you have lung cancer, you smoke, so it’s your fault. I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life,” he said.
“The truth is, anyone with lungs can get lung cancer. Nobody deserves to have lung cancer, it’s horrible.”
The mother of two children believes the stigma against lung cancer patients is affecting fundraising efforts for research into life-saving treatments.
She has been through targeted therapy, which works to specifically kill the cells that cause cancer.
