Mum had to decide to give her unborn baby chemotherapy to save her own life

Heartbreaking decision: Lisa Cox and her son

It was a terrifying choice no mum-to-be would ever want to make.

Five months into her pregnancy, Lisa Cox was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer.

She had to decide whether to delay chemotherapy and protect her unborn child – or save her own life knowing the baby could be harmed by the toxic treatment.

Most mothers may have taken the first option, but Lisa had three children who needed their mum. And she wanted to be there for the boy she was expecting.

Doctors could not predict how the chemotherapy would affect a five-month old foetus, but they warned her it could damage him.

So anguished Lisa, 39, sat down with husband Stephen – and made the choice to begin the treatment. The result was a happy ending, but it has left her haunted by guilt.

“It was the most horrifying feeling, knowing I had to make a decision like that,” says Lisa.

“I was terrified the chemo would hurt my baby, but I couldn’t stand the thought of not being here to watch my kids grow up.

"It seemed the most responsible thing to do. I knew people would judge me, but I’d say it was far more important for me to be alive when the baby was born.”

Stephen, 39, backed her up.

He says: “We needed to fend off the cancer. When it came down to it, it was all about Lisa’s survival, but having a child’s life involved made it more difficult.

"We had to have mum’s best interests at heart.”

Lisa was overjoyed when she found out she was expecting a child in April 2012 to add to Molly, 14, Beth, nine and Lauren, eight.

But at 20 weeks Lisa noticed a lump in her left breast – and was sent for tests.

She says: “I was told I’d need a mastectomy and chemo. My first thought was of my baby.

“The doctors told me there was little research on how chemo affects women at five months pregnant. But they said it could harm his development.”

While agonising over her decision, she was advised to have her breast removed to stop the cancer spreading.

She says: “Even having the surgery was a hard choice because the anaesthetic could have made me miscarry.”

After she decided to have treatment, the next three months were hell.

When a day went by without her feeling her baby move, she went to the hospital.

She says: “I was convinced he’d be born disfigured.”

After three chemotherapy sessions the oncologist gave Lisa a break to recover. She was induced at 36 weeks and gave birth to 5lbs 5oz Sam.

She says: “I’ve never felt such relief as I did when I could see he was perfect.”

But her worries didn’t end there.

“I kept thinking Sam wasn’t OK and it was my fault,” she says, “The guilt ate me up. By his first birthday he wasn’t crawling, I blamed myself.”

Five months after the November birth Lisa finished her treatment. She is now in remission. Sam is developing well.

Lisa of Telford, Shrops, says: “People would call me selfish for risking my baby’s life but you don’t know what it’s like unless you’re in that position.

“I feel guilty I made the wrong decision, but I had no choice.”

Stephen says: “We are just incredibly lucky Sam is perfect. We now know we made the right choice, but we worried we hadn’t for a long time.”