Melanoma and Babies….

[rick1981]

Hello,

My wife was diagnosed with melanoma (stage III likely at first, primary removed, biopsies after sentinel came back negative) during pregnancy this year. She then developed into Stage IV right before her due date.

We are lucky that we now have a healthy 3-month old baby girl – and my wife is doing OK since she’s taking the BRAF combo.

I have posted about this before, but now have 2 specific questions related to our ‘baby situation’:

– Is there anything known about the impact of melanoma during pregnancy and impact on the baby? Our doctors weren’t familiar with any case studies and concluded that if the baby doesn’t have many moles or extremely light skin, she should be fine.

– As other parents have told us, as a parent you’ll probably have more cases of the cold or the flu in the first year(s) of having a baby then ever before in your life And we’re all sharing the same cold now So on the one hand I want to keep my wife from getting infected to keep her immunity system strong, on the other hand I have read about cases that when someone was fighting a disease in addition to melanoma, it actually triggered an immune response that actually helped fight the cancer as well. Is anything more known about this?

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/drugs-aim-to-replicate-miraculous-spontaneous-remission-in-cancer-patients/story-fni0fit3-1227042991750 (this link is not the story I recall, but can’t find the original article)

Thanks once again, Rick

[Catherine Poole]

The biggest concern is that the melanoma can be passed to the baby in utero, although the placenta does a fine job of keeping it out. But it sounds like baby is perfectly fine. You may want to avoid daycare for the time being because of the onslaught of viruses that are shared there and will be brought home. There is some evidence that viruses can up the immune system, but it is good to keep your this to a minimum. I hope your wife continues to do well, I know how stressful this must be for your family. Vitamin D supplements for all is a good idea for the immune system as it is hard to get in your food source.

[rick1981]

Hi Catherine,

They checked the placebo and that was clean, so good news!

(then again, my wife was also proclaimed “clean” after her primary was removed back in Jan)

And yes, will be careful not to bring to many germs in. She’s at home with us, no day care, so that should help a bit. But I was still fascinated by the fact that small amounts of germs can actually trigger an immune response that’s actually helping to beat the cancer… Guess it’s a bit like vaccinations. (you probably tell I didn’t go to medical school )

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