Credit: Kennedy
Pregnant Woman Thought She Pulled A Muscle At Yoga But It Turned Out To Be Cancer
A mom-to-be thought she had pulled a muscle at yoga – but was later given six months to live.
Zoë Handscomb-Edwards, 44, was in a yoga class with friends when she noticed a lump the size of a golf ball on her leg.
When she found out she was pregnant some weeks later, the mom-to-be decided to get it looked at by her GP.
Friends noted that it looked like a torn muscle in her leg, but Zoë could never have prepared herself for what her doctor found.
She got the check as ‘peace of mind’ so she could focus on her new journey of becoming a mum.
“It took three months to find out what it was,” Zoë said.
“That was so difficult, waiting every day just feeling awful thinking ‘what the hell is this in my body?’”
When she was 16 weeks pregnant in May 2023, the doctor informed her that the lump was sarcoma – a cancer that affects fewer than one in a million people worldwide each year.
“I remember walking out of the hospital and bursting into tears in the carpark,” she noted.
Surgery to remove the tumour in May, while seven months’ pregnant with her baby girl, removed the 20cm mass.
However, a subsequent PET scan in August revealed it had spread.
Zoë said: “It was horrifying having surgery while carrying Penelope, it was so scary.
“A PET scan in August, after having a planned c-section in July, showed the cancer had spread. It was another worst day of my life.
“They told me I had between six months and two years to live. At that time I’d just had my baby and they’re telling me I could be dead in six months.”
She noted that radiotherapy gave her more time, which she used to travel around Europe for three weeks when Penelope, her daughter, was just three-months-old.
She expressed: “”The thought of not seeing her grow up is what always gets me, but it also keeps me going.
“Every moment I have with Penelope and Rob, and my friends and family is precious.”
Husband Rob Handscomb-Edwards, 37, is now fundraising for ‘experimental’ drugs which are unavailable on the NHS, to give their family as much time as possible together.
Zoë added: “I’m not trying to chase down a cure, obviously if my cancer went away that would be incredible but every doctor I’ve spoken to has said it’s incurable.
She noted that it has been a ‘really tough two years,’ but has somehow made ‘peace’ with it.
“It’s really important to raise awareness of rare cancers,” she said.
“It’s so important to get any unusual lumps or bumps checked out as soon as possible.”
