It started out as a dream pregnancy...
[♪♪♪]
...and then turned to absolute chaos.
I started noticing some shortness of breath.
I showed up for a routine visit with my OB,
and I had to use a walker.
It was a very short visit.
She knew something wasn't right.
My husband dropped me off at triage,
and I just thought,
"Okay, we're gonna figure out what's going on,
and I'll be home shortly."
The doctor came in.
She was with the Maternal Fetal Medicine Group.
She held my hand and told me
that they found a mass and it is a tumor,
a leiomyosarcoma.
A leiomyosarcoma is a malignant tumor
of the connective tissue,
typically arising from the wall of a blood vessel.
And I'll never forget, it was very point blank,
and said, "This is life or death."
[♪♪♪]
A sarcoma is one of those tumors
that you want to get it out.
Hers was unusual because it was also behind the liver.
And in addition to the tumor itself,
there was a clot that was extending all the way
up into her heart.
I remember vividly getting a call from one of my colleagues,
there's a young woman who's, um, in her third term of pregnancy
who has this unusual tumor.
But we don't think there's anything that we can do.
[♪♪♪]
And I remember looking at the imaging and thinking,
"I think, technically, this is something that we could tackle
with all the right people."
[♪♪♪]
So, I helped build this team of experts
from the people in this institution who I know
are the best at what they do.
JESSICA: The longer they could hold off on surgery,
it allowed Julia to continue to develop.
We needed to balance that against the tumor progressing
and causing a major catastrophic incident.
Every day mattered.
She was ready to fight.
She was ready to do whatever it took.
KUNDU: As they were taking Jessica back
to do her C-section,
and they asked me,
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
I remember telling them,
"Deliver that baby.
We are gonna pull her through this operation."
JESSICA: So right at 31 weeks she was born.
She was remarkably healthy.
BADRELDIN: Ultimately, her C-section went very well.
But there was still a lot of uncertainty moving forward.
And there was progression of this tumor,
uh, by a few centimeters.
So, that is a very quick growth
within a short period of time.
[♪♪♪]
We were told to make arrangements
just in case it did not go well.
And I finally just said, "Listen..."
[SNIFFLES] "...I love you, I love the kids.
And just always share positive stories about me and--"
[SOBS]
One of my goals as a cancer surgeon,
is to try to push the envelope.
Surgery was the best chance.
You know, frankly, this was her only hope of cure.
You know, because of the large size of her tumor
invading both her vena cava, her liver,
uh, and into her heart,
it required a multi-disciplinary team.
Once we had a plan in place, I think everyone
just stepped in and did their job flawlessly.
This is a massive tumor.
I start opening the abdomen,
immobilized the liver,
detached the liver from inferior vena cava.
So, my role in the surgery was, basically,
to remove that part of the inferior vena cava
that had the tumor itself,
and then replace it with a new plastic tubing.
My role in the procedure was to open up her right atrium,
and then help deliver the tumor down into the abdomen
so it could be safely removed.
Then, it's, uh, replacing everything into its normal,
correct, anatomic space and sewing her up.
I think it went just about as well as it could have gone.
It's a year-- a little over a year later
and she's doing really well.
PHAM: I think it's a great honor to be part of a system
like Northwestern Medicine
where multiple experts can get together
and provide the level of care to a patient like her.
There's really only probably a handful of places
that would've taken on a case like this.
It was the... the right place at the right time.
Julia is a healthy,
happy one-year-old.
And I... I feel wonderful.
CALCEDO: I just want to remember
a quote from St. Francis of Assisi
that said,
"You start doing what is necessary
then you do what is possible,
then, suddenly, you're doing the impossible."
This is what happened at Northwestern.
[JULIA COOING]
[♪♪♪]