The mother, who was treated for cancer for eight years after being diagnosed during her pregnancy, celebrated her complete freedom with three similar photos taken with her daughter.
Roisin Pelan, 40, of Preston, Lancashire, was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 34 weeks pregnant with her first child.
The owner of the online company had to undergo a mastectomy just six days after the birth of her daughter Ivy and battled cancer with intense chemotherapy.
Although the cancer subsided a year later, she returned again in 2018 and doctors warned her she would not live for more than three years, but surprisingly Roisin had her lens removed again in February of this year.
Roisin Pelan, 40, from Preston, Lancashire, shared on Facebook three touching photos of her daughter Ivy taken during her cancer journey. Top to bottom: 2014, 2018, 2022
Roisin was 34 weeks pregnant with her first child when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to undergo a mastectomy.
Since clearing everything out in February 2022, Roisin has been waiting to marry 37-year-old Michael Brown and has become a mother of two after adopting a son (pictured).
Now a mother of two and awaiting marriage to her 37-year-old partner, Michael Brown, Roisin told how her daughter, who was born just days before her diagnosis, didn’t know about a life before her mother’s cancer.
Roisin took to Facebook to celebrate her net scan with a poignant post featuring the same three shots as her daughter on her eight-year cancer journey.
Roisin said: “These last eight years have been without a doubt the hardest years of my entire life, but they have also been the best.
“Dealing with your mental health is the hardest part: trying to believe you have a future when you feel like you don’t exist.
Roisin said trying to believe she has a future and managing her mental health was the “hardest part” of her eight-year battle with cancer. In the photo: Roisin in the hospital with newborn Ivy
Roisin first noticed a lump on her left breast in May 2014 while moisturizing her skin to prevent stretch marks. Left in the photo: Roisin with Ivy in the hospital
“Cancer is the only thing my daughter, and later my son, knows. But when you’re diagnosed with cancer twice, you really want to live your life.
“We’re only here once, and I’ve been given a second and third chance.”
Roisin first noticed a lump on her left breast in May 2014, at 34 weeks pregnant, while taking fluids to prevent stretch marks.
She went to a doctor to see the olive-sized lump, which an ultrasound and biopsy revealed to be breast cancer.
She and her now fiancé, Michael, had options and chose to give birth prematurely for their daughter, whom they named Ivy, before undergoing a mastectomy.
Just six days later, on June 6, Roisin had the procedure followed by six months of chemotherapy. She went through the difficult process of raising her daughter.
The year she was diagnosed, a photo was taken with baby Ivy, which would later become an emotional reminder of her long journey through cancer.
The new family was thrilled to receive a clear screening in January 2015 and began filing for the adoption of their second child.
They believed a second pregnancy would run the risk of developing cancer due to hormones, and in November 2017 they were finally approved for adoption.
They had planned to start the matchmaking process in January 2018, but at this point it had gone downhill.
Roisin said: “Days before three years of remission, I found another lump.
“I was talking to someone and I heard it and my stomach tightened.
Roisin had a mastectomy just six days after giving birth, followed by six months of chemotherapy to raise her daughter (pictured in 2014)
The new family was approved for adoption just months before Roisin found a new lump in 2018 and scans confirmed the cancer had returned.
Roisin was shocked when doctors said the cancer had spread beyond the original site and she couldn’t even care for her daughter, Ivy.
“I knew right away that the cancer was back. I couldn’t even look at Ivy when I had a scan that confirmed it.
“I didn’t know what to do with it – usually when you have a relapse, it recurs in later stages.”
A week later, Roisin was back in the chemotherapy chair and was shocked when doctors told her it had spread beyond the original site, if not to another organ.
They warned him that he would probably only have three years to live, and that his chances of having surgery would be slim.
Roisin went to another hospital for a second opinion, where doctors decided to continue aggressive chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Pictured: Roisin and Ivy in 2018
He said: “I left without the slightest hope of survival. I thought I was going to die, that’s all.’
But after going to another hospital for a second opinion, several doctors decided to continue with aggressive chemotherapy and radiotherapy to destroy the cancer a second time.
She had another net sweep in 2019 and was able to adopt her son when she was nine months old, and she and Ivy quickly became best friends.
Three years later, Roisin refuted the doctors, breaking free of their three-year prophecy, which she celebrated with a third identical photo of the nearly eight-year-old Ivy.
Roisin had another net scan in 2019 and was able to adopt Ivy’s best friend, her nine-month-old son.
Roisin said that at the age of seven, Ivy shouldn’t know words like chemotherapy, CT scan and MRI, but she will stay on chemotherapy forever.
While the first two photos from her cancer journey show her without her due to chemotherapy, this year’s photo shows the biggest smile despite her bushy hair.
The trio of photos is a reminder of how far she’s come and the journey Ivy has taken with her since the beginning.
“Ivy knows words like chemotherapy and knows what CT and MRI scans are.
“She shouldn’t know these things at the age of seven.
“I’ll be on chemo forever, but now that it’s been our life, it’s keeping me alive.
“The past eight years have been without a doubt the hardest years of my life, but also the best.”
Source: Daily Mail
