A Postpartum Symptom No One Expected: Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
I was born and raised in Colombia and moved to the United States at the age of 25. I settled in New Haven, where I attended Albertus Magnus College and earned a master’s degree in business administration. I then embarked on a career in the restaurant industry, managing a restaurant in New Haven for many years.
I moved to New York in 2017 to manage a restaurant and began to settle into a new life. In July 2022, I welcomed my beautiful daughter, Sophia, into the world and returned to New Haven to be closer to family. Unfortunately, her father is not involved in our lives, and I navigated the journey of being a new mother on my own.
Three weeks after Sophia’s birth, I began experiencing unusual symptoms, which my doctors attributed to the epidural I had received. However, I began vomiting, having severe headaches, and forgetting things, and eventually, my legs weren’t working properly. I visited the emergency department (ED), but was sent home.
Those close to me assumed my symptoms were related to postpartum depression, or something else triggered by my daughter’s birth. At my routine follow-up with my OB/GYN, she immediately knew these symptoms were not consistent with postpartum depression, and sent me to the ED to have an MRI.
The MRI revealed a large tumor on my brain. It was too large for them to treat at that hospital, so they sent me to Smilow Cancer Hospital, where I was treated by neurosurgeon Jennifer Moliterno, MD. I don’t recall much from that time, but I do remember crying for my daughter—then 7 weeks old—and Dr. Moliterno reassuring me that everything was going to be OK.
I underwent a lobectomy and after analyzing the tumor, they found that it was Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer that had spread to my brain. My mother died of ovarian cancer when I was young, and I later discovered that we both carry Lynch syndrome, a genetic disorder that increases the risk of developing certain cancers. In my mind I saw history repeating itself with my own daughter.
From there I met with medical oncologist Scott Gettinger, MD, and started on chemotherapy. In addition to excellent care, Dr. Gettinger gave me hope. I was young, otherwise healthy, and he believed I could get through this, which made me believe it as well. I only needed three rounds of chemotherapy instead of four, and then one year of an immunotherapy medication.
I opted to have a full hysterectomy because Lynch syndrome is associated with an increased risk of ovarian cancer. Following my lobectomy, I experienced an infection and needed a craniotomy to remove compromised bone. Despite these challenges, I am doing remarkably well now. I have been cancer-free for three years and feel about 85% back to normal.
My daughter has always been my top priority and so I left the restaurant industry to spend more time with her, a decision that has been incredibly rewarding. I've discovered that my greatest skill is being a mom, and I'm deeply passionate about children's nutrition, which has become my focus.
The supportive care I received at Smilow was unbelievable. Social workers assisted me in gaining full legal custody of my daughter, filing for disability, and arranging for childcare when I needed it. I try to volunteer as much as I can to give back and am involved in several organizations. But at the end of the day, I live to make memories with my daughter; she is my miracle.
