In May this year, Elle Halliwell was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia. Two days later she found out she was pregnant.
Doctors advised her to abort the baby and begin treatment immediately. But she refused to do it.
On last night’s 60 Minutes the journalist opened up about her decision to go through with her pregnancy despite the devastating –and potentially life threatening – cancer diagnosis.
“I just instantly thought this will kill me,” Elle told Allison Langdon on last night’s 60 Minutes.
“Knowing that it had invaded every kind of area of your body, a blood cancer, felt so fatal.
“I just thought, that poor life inside me living in this sick body. I thought it had no hope anyway.”
Chronic myeloid leukaemia is a rare form of blood cancer, which 15 years ago would have been a death sentence.
New advancement in treatment means those diagnosed can go on to live long and full lives, however the treatment cannot be taken while pregnant.
Once her baby is born, Elle will begin oral chemotherapy, which she will take for the rest of her life.
“The whole situation has put so much into perspective for me about my life and my priorities,” adds Elle.
“Having something like this to look forward to, you stop think about yourself and your own kind of health and issues, and the little things that used to niggle at you, they don’t niggle at you any more.”
Elle is now 32 weeks along and just weeks away from welcoming her baby.
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