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National Documentation Centre (NDC)

Women Health

Fetus kicks tumour in womb, saves mom (Times of India- 26-07-2010)

You may call it a miracle — a baby saved his mother’s life before he was even born just by kicking in the
womb only to alert doctors of a tumour inside.
Mother-to-be Claire feared she was losing him 18 weeks into the pregnancy. But, doctors discovered the
“miscarriage” was actually a tumour of the womb — which her unborn son had kicked free, the News of
the World reported.
Claire, 26, was advised to have an abortion immediately so her cancer could be treated. But she said, “I
couldn’t end my baby’s life when he had just saved mine.
“The cancer had been growing for months — if he had not kicked the tumour it would have carried on
growing until it was too late. I knew if anything happened to me, this baby would be loved, so I was
willing to take that risk.”
She continued with the pregnancy until 26 weeks, when the tumour had trebled in size. Then doctors told
beautician Claire and her partner Harry they had to deliver her baby then — but gave him only a 40%
chance of survival.
Little Harry weighed just a little over two pounds when he was born at St Thomas’s Hospital in London.
Claire said, “He was so tiny. We were just praying he would pull through. They showed him to me and
then quickly rushed him down to intensive care.”

The boy is a healthy two-yearold. “We were both allowed home on the same day, which was lovely. I feel
like the luckiest mum in the world, for both my son and I to have survived,” Claire said.
Robert Music of Jo’s Trust said, “This really is quite remarkable. We have never come across anything
like this before. Claire was extremely lucky it was detected in this way.”

Miracle Delivered
Mother-to-be was 18 weeks into the pregnancy when a suspected miscarriage turned out to be a tumour in
her uterus that the baby had accidentally kicked free. Doctors advised mother to abort baby as tumour had
to be operated. Mother refuses, leading to delivery at 26 weeks. Mother, baby discharged on same day.