Cancer-Stricken Mother Sacrifices Her Eye To Save Her Unborn Baby


A cancer-stricken mother from Edmonton expressed her love to her unborn child with a completely selfless act: she sacrificed her right eye. Chantal Gauthier-Vaillancourt had her right eye removed in hopes of keeping her rare form of cancer from spreading to her child.

According to Global News, Chantal began fighting her battle with cancer in 2009. At that time she was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, a malignant melanoma in her right eye. Ocular melanoma is a rare and aggressive form of cancer that can be fatal if left untreated, as it often spreads to the liver and other organs.

After radiation and natural treatments, Chantal was finally told she was in remission.

Gauthier-Vaillancourt was practicing her first year of midwifery when she was diagnosed with the disease and knew she and her husband wanted children. However, doctors told Chantal that they should wait before attempting to have children as her body needed to recover fully. After five years in remission, the couple finally was expecting a new baby.

Sadly, just eight weeks into her pregnancy, the mother-to-be learned that her cancer had returned. Not only had the cancer returned with a vengeance, there was a 25 percent chance the cancer would spread to the placenta. Doctors had suggestions for effective treatment options, but Chantal wanted none of it.

“Abortion, radiation, surgery [to remove the tumour]: none of those seemed appropriate for us.”

As a midwife, Chantal knew how dangerous attempting surgery would be on her baby. She did not want to take any chances, so she waited. She pursued a number of natural therapies to treat her cancer on an interim basis until her unborn baby would be strong enough, and developed enough, to have a fighting chance should surgery send her into premature labor.

Fortunately, at 28 weeks of pregnancy, the cancer had still not spread to the placenta. However, the chances of spreading were increasing significantly due to the tumor’s extreme growth rate. According to LifeSite News, the doctors told Chantal that the chance of cancer spreading to the placenta was now at a staggering 70 percent. Upon receiving the news Chantal simply stated:

“We’re at a point where we decided it’s time: the baby is strong enough to tolerate the surgery and so I’ll be getting the eye removed next week.”

The surgery to remove her entire right eye took place on June 11, and we are happy to report that both the mother and baby are doing well.

Though Chantal has been through so much in her battle with cancer, she still has an extremely positive outlook on life.

“It’s been a rough tide, but at the same time, I mean, everyone has problems and I honestly feel it’s just another bump in the road. I keep saying, ‘This baby chose me, chose this situation and is very strong.”

Watch the video below to learn more about Chantal and her battle with cancer and the great sacrifice to save her unborn baby.

It isn’t just human mothers that will sacrifice their selves for their babies. This mother horse braved a fire to save her baby foal.

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