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Friday January 25, 2008
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Mother Refused Cancer Treatment So Baby Could live
By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
NORFOLK, UK, January 25, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Lorraine Allard of St. Olaves, near Great Yarmouth, was told she had advanced liver cancer when she was four months pregnant with her first son.
The thirty-three year old mother of three girls was advised to abort her son, who was 23 weeks old, and begin chemotherapy right away. Rather than follow the doctor's advice, however, the courageous woman insisted on waiting long enough to give her unborn son a chance to survive, telling her husband, Martyn: "If I am going to die, my baby is going to live."
Mrs. Allard was scheduled for a caesarian delivery at 26 weeks, but went into premature labour and delivered her son, Liam, on November 18.
"He was so tiny, just 1lb 11oz, so the nurse grabbed him and allowed Lorraine to give him a little kiss before he was taken to an incubator," Mr. Allard said in a report by the Daily Mail.
"She was so emotional. She had been so determined to give him the best chance and was happy that he had been born naturally, which meant she wouldn't have to recover for a couple of weeks after a Caesarian before beginning the chemotherapy."
She began a course of chemotherapy and, although the doctors had said the cancer was no longer curable, they hoped to shrink the tumours, which they thought might give her a few more years of life. A CT scan on January 17, however, revealed the tumours were still growing. She passed away the following day.
Martyn Allard shared the last moments of his wife's earthly life with the Daily Mail reporter: "On the day Lorraine died she hadn't eaten for two weeks and couldn't drink. I lay beside her and she was gripping my hand quite tight. We were like that for about half an hour."
"I could feel against my chest that her heart was slowing down. She just slipped away after that. It was very peaceful."
"Lorraine was positive all the way through. She had strength for both of us. I can't begin to describe how brave she was. Towards the end we knew things weren't going well but she was overjoyed that she had given life to Liam."
"When Liam is old enough, I won't tell him that Lorraine gave her life for him but I will say she made sure he had a good chance of life. She told me she didn't want him to feel bad about it," Mr. Allard added.
Lorraine's funeral will take place on February 4th in the same church where she married Martyn.
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