Kate Grainger: Mom reveals strange symptom that led to 'shock' diagnosis just days before she gave birth
NEWMAN, AUSTRALIA: A mother of three has revealed how she noticed a "weird" symptom just weeks away from giving birth that eventually led to an aggressive cancer diagnosis. Kate Grainger discovered her colostrum, the first milk produced by an expecting mother, was pink instead of yellow at 32 weeks pregnant.
Kate -- who reportedly works as a teacher in Newman, a Western Australian town with no birthing facilities -- decided to travel with her husband Joel and two children Leo, 3, and Iris, 2, nearly 870 miles to Busselton, in south-west Western Australia to be with her in-laws. Once there, she mentioned the discolored colostrum to her obstetrician, who later diagnosed her with grade 3 triple negative breast cancer just two weeks away from giving birth to her third child.
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'I didn't think anything of it'
While the baby named Heath was born healthy on February 25, his mother's cancer had spread across her breast and into a lymph node. The young mother was reportedly wheeled from the pregnancy ward to the cancer ward for scans and treatment. She said she did not think much of the miscolored colostrum at the time, assuming it was just another pregnancy quirk. "I didn't think anything of it. I was like, 'Oh pregnancy boobs, weird things happen,'" Kate told 7Life. "Boobs are always lumpy during pregnancy so I really didn't think anything of it."
The diagnosis, however, shattered her world. "Nothing they could say would reassure me that it was okay," she said. "It was just pure fear, pure terror and shock, and horror. I worried myself so much that I'd actually gone into the hospital and asked them to sedate me because I was so upset. My husband and I were trying to cling onto the positives."
Trying to look at the bright side
Grade 3 triple-negative breast cancer is a more aggressive form of cancer that usually occurs in women younger than 40, according to Breastcancer.org. It is said to have poorer clinical outcomes with higher relapse rates and a much lower chance of survival.
While the family was coming to terms with the devastating news, Kate was told she would have to have a C-section birth. "We had to put the cancer in a little box and get into baby mode," she recalled. "It was the most beautiful experience. It was my third cesarean and by far the best. It felt like my body had gone to the stars and back - it was just euphoric."
'I want an eternity with them'
Following Heath's healthy birth, Kate started chemotherapy sessions and was told she might need a potential double mastectomy. "While in the hospital between the time of being diagnosed and starting treatment - I would just wake up in the morning and I'd feel paralyzed," the embattled mom remembered. "I couldn't speak, just total fear. And my husband's been really good at bringing me back to the now. Sometimes I just need a tight squeeze and he's just really calming and sits with me and talks through everything with me." She added, "I really want an eternity with them and my husband. Everything about them (her family) just means so much to me, every giggle, every smile, every cuddle."
A GoFundMe campaign set up for Kate and her family has raised more than $69,000 AUD (~$45,900 USD) and is rapidly approaching its $70,000 AUD (~$46,560 USD) goal at the time of publication. "There is just kindness wherever we turn. People are just incredible," she gushed about the donations.