‘Miracle
Baby’
Leukemia survivor gives birth to baby girl at Marquette General
Late
one night, registered nurse Judy Rudness stayed on in the Marquette
General
Hospital Family Birthing Center long after
her shift had ended.
She remained at the birthing center so she could help Lora Holm,
who was in labor. Also at Lora’s bedside was her mother Connie
St. Amour. Although St. Amour is also a nurse in the Family Birthing
Center,
she was not on duty
that night. Rather, she was there to help her daughter, Lora, give birth
to her first grandchild.
Lora Holm, middle, proudly holds her baby girl,
Keira, in her arms surrounded by Lora’s mom, Connie St. Amour,
left, (an RN in the Family Birthing Center at Marquette General Hospital)
and Judy Rudness (also an RN in the birthing center). Lora was diagnosed
with leukemia when she was 8, and feared she would never be able to
have children. But, on Oct. 25, she gave birth to Keira, a 7-pound,
10-ounce “Miracle Baby.” (MGH photo)
The fact that Holm was able to give birth to a baby girl is a miracle
in and of itself. When Holm was 8, she was diagnosed with leukemia.
During her
years
of chemotherapy, she was put on several experimental drugs that successfully
fought the leukemia. Unfortunately, there was the possibility of the harsh
side effect of infertility.
She never thought she would be able to have children.
“Of all the experimental drugs she had as a child, I remember one that
had a single possible side effect — sudden death,” St. Amour said. “That
one got injected into her thigh, unlike most of the others that went into an
IV or into her spine. I would sit in the hall outside her room, and they would
bring the crash cart right up to her door. The terror and tension were tremendous.
“Of course, another prevalent side effect that several of the others had
was the possibility of infertility,” St. Amour continued. “The drug
combinations were what I worried about most. However, because her cancer occurred
before the onset of puberty, I think she had a little better chance.”
Holm’s physicians told her she wouldn’t be able to gauge her fertility
until she actually tried to get pregnant.
Said St. Amour: “When Lora told me she was pregnant, I experienced fear.
I didn’t know how a pregnancy would affect her. Being scared then made
me angry with her for having scared me. But one of the doctors at MGH took
me aside and told me that Lora getting pregnant was a very good sign, a sign
that her body was better.”
Holm’s daughter, Keira, born on Oct. 25, weighed 7 pounds, 10 ounces
and was 20 inches long. St. Amour wrapped her new granddaughter, before setting
Keira in Lora’s arms.
The significance of Rudness’s presence was particularly sweet because
she had been St. Amour’s nurse for Holm’s birth 23 years earlier.
“
I was already working in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at MGH when Judy
started there as a student,” St. Amour said. “But Lora’s
story goes beyond my friendship with Judy. For Lora to have survived her cancer,
grown up to get married and given birth is a reflection on the years and years
of great care she received from everyone at MGH.”
The girl who once thought she would have to adopt not only has a child
of her own, but wants to follow in the career footsteps of her mother and
Judy.
“
I just like babies,” Holm said. “I think it would be a fast-paced,
rewarding job.
“
Right now, being a mother and a nursing student is keeping me very busy. I
get up two or three times a night, which isn’t bad,” said Holm,
who will graduate in May with an RN degree from Northern Michigan University.“Sometimes
I’m very tired. But it’s all definitely worth it. I love being
with her. I love holding her. It’s definitely worth it.”
Added Brandon, Lora’s husband: “It’s a feeling like no other.
I look at Keira, and I could stare at her for hours.”
Rudness said if not for the outstanding medical care Lora received at Marquette
General as a young girl, she most likely wouldn’t have been able to get
pregnant and have a child.
“The MGH Cancer Center took really good care of her, so she could be here,
so she could have a baby,” Rudness said.
For more information about the MGH Birthing Center, call the MGH Women’s
and Children’s Center at 1-906-225-3081 or go to the Birthing Center
home page at www.mgh.org/wcc/index.html.
For more information about cancer treatment at MGH, call the Upper Michigan
Cancer Center, a service of Marquette General Hospital, at 1-906-225-3500
or go to Cancer Center home page at www.mgh.org/cancer/index.html.
Marquette General Hospital, 420 W. Magnetic Street, Marquette MI 49855