Pregnancy and Cancer: Two Lives at Risk

Nov. 28, 2007 — -- Seven months ago, 26-year-old Linda Sanchez got the best and the worst of news. She was told she was pregnant with her first child and within days she was also told she had breast cancer.

Tonight, we will have an update on this incredible story of a cancer patient who refused to give up her baby. Watch "World News with Charles Gibson" tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET.

On Monday -- one month before her scheduled delivery -- Sanchez gave birth to a 5-pound, 2-ounce baby after being induced into labor Sunday. Sanchez needed only 15 minutes of pushing to give birth to Isabella, who measured 18 inches long.

The dark hair covering Isabella's tiny head was evidence that her mother's chemotherapy did not affect the baby's development.

Without an innovative new treatment for pregnant women with breast cancer, Isabella would have never had a chance.

Just months ago, a doctor presented Sanchez with an excruciating choice. She could either start chemotherapy and risk severe birth defects to her baby or delay treatment and risk losing her life.

"My doctor basically said it was me or the baby," she said.

The message was that Sanchez should consider having an abortion. It's the same advice many other women in this situation receive.

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But pioneering research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has shown there's a better way -- that it's now possible to treat a woman's cancer without harming her unborn child.

"Yes, chemotherapy is toxic. But what we have found is that when given in the second or third trimesters it appears to be safe," said Dr. Jennifer Litton, breast oncologist at the MD Anderson Cancer center.

A specific "regimen" of chemotherapy used for pregnant cancer patients has enabled the births of dozens of healthy babies.