Local experts warn of long term psychological damage for pregnant mums diagnosed with cancer
A new study from the University of Surrey found women diagnosed with cancer in pregnancy face profound, long-term emotional and financial challenges
A study from the University of Surrey reveals that women diagnosed with cancer during pregnancy endure long-term emotional and financial challenges.
Led by Dr Jenny Harris, the research team explored the multi-faceted difficulties faced by women who receive a cancer diagnosis while pregnant.
Dr Harris told us about how receiving diagnoses varied for someone who is pregnant differs compared to everyone else
"There's never a good time to be diagnosed with cancer, but being diagnosed during a pregnancy or soon around a pregnancy is really challenging. It's a time of two major life events colliding and conflicting emotions.
One moment people are feeling immense joy at the new pregnancy and know walking in the new child and then at the the next moment they're feeling a sense of overwhelming fear and sometimes it's the the challenge of of managing those two conflicting emotions at the same time."
The research highlights an increase in such diagnoses, attributed to factors such as delayed parenthood in developed countries and more prenatal testing for foetal chromosomal abnormalities.
The research involved interviews with 20 women who were diagnosed with cancer during or shortly after pregnancy. They shared their personal experiences of treatment, childbirth, and survivorship.
Dr Harris spoke to us about how one of the main findings was a common theme of intense maternal guilt.
"What was really interesting is we also saw this real sense of guilt that women had. They had long term guilt that they had ruined their family's experience of the new born.
Even if they knew it was irrational, but even like months and years later, they felt real guilt that they had kind of ruined their family's experience of having a child, a new baby."
Many women focused on concerns about their baby's health, managing treatment, and fulfilling their maternal role and expectations for other children.
The study also uncovered the balancing act required to manage cancer, pregnancy, and work simultaneously.
Frequent medical appointments, travel, and unpaid leave added to financial burdens, while cancer often disrupted plans to work during or return to work after pregnancy, leading to difficult decisions about priorities.