Cancer Knows NO Boundaries

This story is why I continue to ride - 

Mother with 2 beautiful babies 9 months and 22 months old fighting for her life

In April of 2014 Talia Gillan and Chris McDermott were thrilled at the arrival of their baby girl Dylana. She was quite the miracle on her own since Talia was suffering from a very large fibroid on her uterus. This made pregnancy very difficult for her and the baby had to be delivered by C-section 6 weeks early. Thankfully she was born healthy and without complication. 

November 2014 rolled around and one day Talia found a lump in her breast. She went to the doctor a couple times who proceeded to tell her it was a blocked milk duct and sent her home with a prescription for infection. This lump did not go away instead it kept growing... In the meantime Talia and Chris received the surprising yet amazing news that Talia was pregnant again. Talia needed to go see her specialist who deals with her fibroid and pregnancy since she is high risk. The same day she went to her specialist that doctor sent her for a biopsy once she pointed out this growing lump. Very soon after the results came back. Talia had triple negative breast cancer which is an extremely aggressive cancer, and she was now 12 weeks pregnant. 

Talia took this news with incredible bravery. She and the doctor decided what the best road to take would be. Her treatment would consist of four rounds of chemo while she was pregnant: doctors insisting that the baby would be safe. And the baby would be delivered at 34 weeks. Talia completed this unimaginable task being pregnant and going through chemo at the same time. But it didn't stop there. Six days after delivering premature but healthy baby Desmond by C-section Talia underwent a double mastectomy. And then countless rounds of chemo and radiation. As a new mom this should have been the happiest time in her life but Talia was barely able to hold her two babies. Yet Talia took on this illness with fierce determination and was fighting cancer with everything she had. 

In November 2015 Talia found out that her breast cancer had metastasized to lung cancer. She has continued to complete more chemo but has recently found out that she is not responding to treatment. Her two beautiful babies are now 9 months and 22 months old.

Talia is a fighter and if there is a way to beat this awful disease she will find it. In that I have faith and I believe in miracles.