HOUSTON — At the age of 29, expecting mother Alyssa Wilson heard those three dreadful words: You have cancer.
She said that often, cancer can go undetected in pregnant women because many women may think it's just hormonal or a clogged milk duct.
Wilson was diagnosed while pregnant with her son James, who's now a healthy 11-week-old boy.
"At 24 weeks pregnant I noticed a lump in my breast," Wilson said
Erring on the side of caution, she brought it to her doctor's attention three weeks later during her OBGYN checkup appointment.
"He checked it out and he said, you know, seems pretty standard, but we'll just get an ultrasound and check it out. Better safe than sorry," Wilson said.
The ultrasound came back irregular and a biopsy confirmed Wilson had stage 2B breast cancer.
At 30 weeks pregnant — Wilson underwent anesthesia and had a partial mastectomy.
Dr. Jessica Travino Jones – an oncologist with UTHealth Houston and Memorial Hermann Hospital – removed the tumor, along with three of her lymph nodes.
"We don't know why this exactly happened to you, but I do know how to take care of it. So let me take care of it, and I want you to focus on all the other roles that you signed up for, whether it's a mother whether it's a wife," Dr. Jones said.
They were the words of encouragement Wilson needed in one of her darkest hours.
"I just started crying. I said OK, for the first time in my pregnancy journey I felt like I could conquer it and win," Wilson said
Two weeks after giving birth, she started the first of eight rounds of chemotherapy. Wilson hopes her story helps other women seek care when something feels wrong.
"I never want another woman to chalk it up as hormones or a clogged milk duct," she said. "We have to be proactive with our health no matter how old we are."