Cancer treatment ended my last pregnancy - this baby is my Christmas miracle

When Lucy Turner was diagnosed with an aggressive mouth cancer at Christmas three years ago she was given a second piece of devastating news.

She would have to terminate her pregnancy.

Lucy, from Edinburgh, sought second opinions from doctors all over the world but the message was the same - she would need urgent surgery and radiotherapy which her baby would not survive.

In a further blow, the UN policy adviser, who could speak nine languages, was warned she might not be able to talk again after surgery.

Despite the dark times she has faced and the emotional pain of ending the pregnancy, this year she is celebrating a remarkable turnaround.

Since the operation she has recovered her speech and is preparing to spend Christmas with her husband and their new son, Sandy, in New York. "It's a miracle," the 41-year-old told BBC Scotland News.

Lucy's career had taken her to war zones throughout the world but it was during a trip to the dental hygienist three years ago that she learned of an unexpected danger - a lesion, a white patch on her tongue, was found in her mouth.

The dentist referred her for a biopsy at St John's Hospital in Livingston and on 20 December 2022 she was diagnosed with stage three cancer.

It was a very aggressive fast growing cancer, which spread to her neck within a few months.

Medics needed to act quickly to give her the best chance of survival.

"They explained they wanted to excise the tumour, reconstruct [my tongue] from tissue from my arm, reconstruct my arm from tissue from my abdomen, then patch up my abdomen with tissue from my thigh, it would be a feeding tube, a breathing tube and two tubes in my neck to drain the lymphatic fluid.

"They said we are confident we can cure you but you might not be able to eat again and you might not be able to speak again," she said.

She would also have to terminate her pregnancy.

"They made clear that it's either you or the baby or most likely neither because the baby won't survive the treatment but you won't survive without the treatment," she said.

She was told that postponing the surgery until after the birth was not an option.

"I did myself no favours because I was so eager to continue with the pregnancy I sought all the second opinions I could and that delayed the termination all the while this cancer was growing and spreading," she said.

In the end she was "devastated" at having to end her pregnancy after about 20 weeks.

"I had no choice, I had done everything I could to avoid it and I think at certain points I annoyed NHS Lothian because I was saying 'Surely there has to be something gentler and not so barbaric sounding as treatment that would harm my baby'."

She went ahead with the treatment and had an operation to remove half of her tongue, making speech very difficult.

It also affected her appearance.

"I really couldn't recognise myself in the mirror because my face was enormous, this giant pumpkin head, and I had the same message from my family saying 'Don't bother with searching for a solution, just accept it," she said.

Instead, she drew up her own plan for rehabilitation, which included belly dancing, physiotherapy, facial massage and speech drills.

Now she says she can recognise herself in the mirror again, and she has hopes of recovering the ability to speak foreign languages.

During her recovery, she also tried IVF in a bid to get pregnant but it failed.

Then, last year, she was "elated" to discover she had become pregnant naturally with her husband, Alejandro Torrealba, 45.

"I was absolutely delighted and baked a cake and made my husband's favourite Venezuelan dish," she said.

Their baby, Sandy, was born on 20 May.

"I think this message we have, probably more strongly at Christmas, about hope and believing in a better future, absolutely has merit," Lucy reflected.

"I think it is absolutely necessary for people who are going through a tough time to believe in that.

"And the other thing that is really significant for me at this time is the importance of peace. I was recommended to keep busy but it wasn't good advice, what I actually needed and what accelerated my recovery and turned it around when it wasn't going so well was rest, retreating a little bit from life and bringing in peace."

Now she plans to spend Christmas with her husband and son in New York, after relocating to the US.

"He finds shaking an empty packet of crisps and me emptying a bin absolutely hilarious.

"He has taught me how magical and how unexpected and surprising life is."

Caroline McKinnel, co-centre head at Maggie's Edinburgh, said: "Having to make a decision whether to continue with a pregnancy or not due to the need for urgent cancer treatment, is one of the hardest things a woman could possibly face.

"Especially when it is a shocking, surprise diagnosis and emotions are already running high.

"This is something that our expert staff at Maggie's can support with. We are here to support individuals and their partners with anything that cancer brings their way, whether it's at the first stage of a cancer diagnosis, throughout treatment or in the aftermath following cancer treatment."