To say baby Jenna Smith has had a very rocky start to life is something of an understatement.(glass prints Cheap Canvas Online Wholesale Photo Prints)
After being diagnosed with cancer while still in her mother's womb, undergoing emergency surgery while she was being born, and going through further surgery followed by gruelling chemotherapy, the nine-month-old is now healthy and at home after celebrating the festive season with her very relieved family.
Jenna's parents Lisa and Anthony were left devastated when their unborn daughter was diagnosed with a cancerous growth on her neck during an ultrasound scan at 32 gestation.
Baby Jenna was born with a large tumour on her neck; after surgery, she required chemotherapy.
Baby Jenna was born with a large tumour on her neck; after surgery, she required chemotherapy.
"She was still inside me and hadn't even been born yet, yet I was being told that my baby had cancer. It was terrifying," Lisa said, according to a report in the Daily Mail.
The ultrasound was being carried out to check on the baby girl's growth due to the fact Lisa had developed diabetes during pregnancy.
But the UK couple, who suffered a miscarriage two years before falling pregnant again, was confident their daughter was healthy as earlier scan results had been perfect.
"I was overjoyed that I was pregnant again," Lisa said.
"I went for my scan at 12 weeks and doctors said there was a good strong heartbeat that that was a relief. Then on the 20 week scan everything looked fine too so I was just looking forward to becoming a mum at last. We were devastated when (at the 32 week scan) we were told what was the matter with our baby. We didn't know whether she was even going to survive."
Two weeks later Lisa's water broke and she was rushed into the operating theatre at Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, England. But according to the Daily Mail, doctors had to cut a hole in Jenna's throat to insert a breathing tube midway through her delivery.
"It was so scary," Lisa said of her daughter's birth in March. "They were operating on Jenna literally as she was half way through being born."
Lisa says it was also heart-breaking to see the size of Jenna's tumour when she was born.
"When I saw the massive tumour on her neck when she was delivered, I couldn't believe just how big it was," she said, according to the Daily Mail.
"She was such a tiny baby and yet she had this massive tumour on her neck. I just had to pray that she would be able to survive."
Once she was born the little girl had surgery to remove the tumour from her neck. Her parents were relieved when initial tests showed the tumour was benign, however that relief was short-lived after further tests revealed it was in fact cancerous.
The tiny baby had to go back to hospital to begin months of chemotherapy to stop the cancer spreading.
Despite the fact the treatment left her weak and unwell, between treatments Lisa says Jenna was a happy baby.
After battling for the first months of life, the new year is looking like a positive one for little Jenna and her family.
With just two weeks of chemotherapy left to go doctors say there is no sign of the cancer returning.
"We are very proud of her," Lisa said, according to the Daily Mail. "Luckily when she grows up, she will be too young to remember everything that she has been through.
"We will tell her when she's old enough about how lucky she has been - to survive being born with cancer."
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