This undated photo shows the Taylor family. (Courtesy: Taylor Family.)
After receiving a devastating cancer diagnosis while 26 weeks pregnant, Kathy Taylor was determined to stay healthy enough to deliver her baby boy.
Now, her Utah family is holding onto hope that Taylor, who has an aggressive form of melanoma that has spread throughout her body, will have a chance to get to know her youngest son, Luke, KSL.com reported.
Taylor, 33, who has five other children with husband Nathan, delivered Luke about three weeks after her diagnosis so that doctors could begin her treatment. Luke weighed 1 pound 15 ounces, and is expected to remain hospitalized until December.
“She was doing everything in her power to hold that baby in her, so she could give him the protection and nourishment she needed to as a mommy,” Jocelyn Taylor, Katy’s mother-in-law told KSL.com.
Doctors removed melanoma from Taylor’s back seven years ago, and the recurrence took the family by surprise. She was admitted to the Huntsman Cancer Institute where the family hopes a new treatment will help extend her life.
“Her organs and her body are shutting down,” Jocelyn told the news station. “She seems to have a foot in both worlds right now."
On Saturday, the couple’s oldest child turned 10 and Kathy was able to attend via Skype.
“All Kathy desired, her purpose for living just one more day, was so that sweet Ally wouldn’t have to share her birthday with her mother’s passing,” brother-in-law Brandon Taylor wrote on a fundraising page for the family.
An update on the page dated September 15 said doctors are considering a “shotgun” approach which includes a massive drug shock to her system.
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