Right or wrong? Baby instead of chemotherapy

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blueberries

Sat, Sep 09 2017, 7:29 pm

Woman with brain cancer who chose baby instead of chemotherapy has died

A Michigan woman who chose to forego cancer treatments that would have prolonged her life but ended her pregnancy died Saturday, three days after giving birth to her sixth child.

"I'll see you in Heaven,” Nick DeKlyen said to his wife just before she died.

"We stayed by her until she took her last breath," he said. "It's in God's hands now."

The 37-year-old woman died surrounded by family at University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor.

She had been in a coma since July and gave birth to a baby girl via emergency cesarean section on Wednesday.

Life Lynn weighed 1 lbs., 4 ounces at birth.

Nick DeKlyen said his daughter is doing better than expected in neonatal intensive care, gaining weight and "almost breathing on her own."

"She's going to be fine," he said. "She's going to be here for four or five months, but we expect her to be a healthy baby ... The doctor just said the timing (of the birth) couldn't have been more perfect."

Doctors removed Carrie DeKlyen's feeding and breathing tubes on Thursday.

She chose to forgo chemotherapy to treat her brain cancer, since it would have meant ending her pregnancy.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017......html

mirror

Sat, Sep 09 2017, 7:33 pm

A Rav would have told her to do the chemotherapy. As a side point, a baby that's born weighing 1 lb 4 oz will unfortunately be a special needs child with developmental delays.

mfb

Sat, Sep 09 2017, 7:41 pm

mirror wrote:

A Rav would have told her to do the chemotherapy. As a side point, a baby that's born weighing 1 lb 4 oz will unfortunately be a special needs child with developmental delays.

I know someone who unfortunately had to make such a decision. She had her baby and then started chemo, but unfortunately didn't make it. I'm presuming she asked before making her decision.

justmarried:)

Sat, Sep 09 2017, 7:44 pm

Her baby will not for sure be special needs

jeweled

Sat, Sep 09 2017, 7:51 pm

Some religions believe it is better to save a baby over mothers life since the mother has already been "saved". Complete opposite of Judaisms approach.

seeker

Sat, Sep 09 2017, 8:28 pm

I know a baby who was born that weight and did not have delays other than some catching up in the first couple of years. That child is now a perfectly normal adult which means that the premature birth happened over 20 years ago when the care of premature babies was not even as well-developed as it is today.

The wording said that the chemo would have prolonged her life, which to me indicates that she was not expected to survive the cancer in any case. Many people in that circumstance opt out of the chemo because its side effects are so unpleasant that why go through all that only to go through dying of cancer right after that anyway.

Basically this kind of story is going to be sad all around. No need for us to sit around and chat over whether or not we agree with a decision that we hope never to make.

yehudis1056

Sat, Sep 09 2017, 8:28 pm

She had glioblastoma or GBM which unfortunately has an extremely poor prognosis. She had already had 2 surgeries (says so farther on in article) so she did attempt treatment and it says she declined a clinical trial in order to prolong her pregnancy- there's a very very very small chance the trial would have saved her life. 95% of people with GBM do not make it. There is no cure. Please don't judge this poor woman. She had a death sentence and was attempting at least to give her baby a chance.

ra_mom

Sat, Sep 09 2017, 8:28 pm

Do sad. May nobody know from needing to make such choices.

mommy3b2c

Sat, Sep 09 2017, 8:32 pm

mirror wrote:

A Rav would have told her to do the chemotherapy. As a side point, a baby that's born weighing 1 lb 4 oz will unfortunately be a special needs child with developmental delays.

????

I know a number of children born at that weight who are not special needs.

Chana Miriam S

Sat, Sep 09 2017, 8:38 pm

I have a friend who weighed that when born at 24 weeks almost fifty years ago. He is a chartered accountant turned high school business teacher with a wife and four kids. Not all early low weight babies are special needs.

tichellady

Sat, Sep 09 2017, 8:53 pm

Probably not ok according to Jewish law although I wonder if according to Jewish law if the woman preferred to avoid chemotherapy if that would be allowed in general ( forget the pregnancy) and ideal according to Christian canon law since the baby is not baptized but the mom is.

mom2six

Sun, Sep 10 2017, 12:18 am

Not for us to judge their decision. I would hate to be in the position where I had to make a tough choice like that and then have the whole world second guessing my decision.

yOungM0mmy

Sun, Sep 10 2017, 3:02 am

mirror wrote:

A Rav would have told her to do the chemotherapy. As a side point, a baby that's born weighing 1 lb 4 oz will unfortunately be a special needs child with developmental delays.

A rav would not necessarily told her to do chemotherapy, irrespective of whether she was pregnant or not. There comes a point where halachically you can weigh the percentage of chance it would work, vs the side effects and quality of life, and halachically do not have to do treatment any more.
Obviously she had tried different treatments, and was near the end of her life, and the treatment was not likely to accomplish much.

Tzutzie

Sun, Sep 10 2017, 5:02 am

yOungM0mmy wrote:

This. It depends on the prognosis.

If shebwould have chosen chemotherapy instead of growing this child, did she have a chance of complete recovery? Another few months to live?

shabbatiscoming

Sun, Sep 10 2017, 5:18 am

justmarried:) wrote:

Her baby will not for sure be special needs

Not 100%. I know someone who was born same thing, 1 pound something and he was baruch hashem on the wrestling team in high school and is very strong and no special needs.
Just because a baby is born SMALL does not necessarily mean special needs.

Jeanette

Sun, Sep 10 2017, 6:26 am

Title is needlessly sensationalist. Fails to mention that she had a low chance of survival even with chemo. She chose to end her life doing something meaningful. May she rest in peace

pause

Sun, Sep 10 2017, 9:09 am

There was a similar story written up in one of the Jewish magazines. There she asked her rav and was told that it's her choice. The treatment would have possibly added a few months to her life, so she chose her baby.

yogabird

Sun, Sep 10 2017, 9:38 am

What an utterly awful decision to have to make. May we never be tested.

nylon

Sun, Sep 10 2017, 9:52 am

Yes, declining a clinical trial for GBM is a very different kettle of fish from declining chemotherapy for a cancer that can either be cured, or put into long remission (I have heard of such cases, not very common). There were no good choices here.

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