{"id":14687,"date":"2018-02-22T04:56:50","date_gmt":"2018-02-22T11:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=14687"},"modified":"2021-06-04T10:41:46","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T16:41:46","slug":"cancer-success-then-a-new-baby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/cancer-success-then-a-new-baby\/","title":{"rendered":"Cancer success, then a new baby"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Jennifer Leffler just wasn\u2019t feeling herself, something most sleep-deprived first-time parents can commiserate with. But the feeling went on longer than it should have after her son Elliott\u2019s birth in March 2009. She checked in with certified nurse midwife Krista O\u2019Leary at UCHealth Women\u2019s Care Clinic – Greeley<\/a>. O\u2019Leary didn\u2019t like what she saw, and subsequent testing yielded an explanation no new mother \u2013 or anyone else \u2013 wants to hear. There was a mass in her colon.<\/p>\n

\"Jennifer
Jennifer Leffler gazes at her son Beckett, who was born after Jennifer coped with colon cancer. Photo by Joel Blocker.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was colon cancer, and it had spread to her lymph nodes, further workup showed. Leffler, with no family history of colon cancer and no genetic predisposition to it, was a week shy of her 32nd birthday. She and husband Chris were hoping for another child to share a life with Elliott; now the priority was saving Leffler\u2019s.<\/p>\n

The first step was surgery at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital.<\/a> Martin McCarter, MD<\/a>, who specializes in complex abdominal-cancer surgeries, removed the tumor and a foot-long section of Leffler\u2019s colon. Six months of chemotherapy followed, which she did under the care of\u00a0 Michael Stone, MD<\/a> at UCHealth Cancer Care and Hematology Clinic – Greeley<\/a>. Given her family history, youth, and general health, Stone and Leffler were hopeful that she could put cancer care behind her and get back to focusing on her family and her work at the University of Northern Colorado library<\/a> in Greeley.<\/p>\n

A scan in July 2011, though, showed a single liver tumor, which brought a different chemotherapy and a biologic called Avastin<\/a>, \u201cwhich is pretty nasty stuff,\u201d as Leffler put it. It did its job in stopping the growth of the tumor, and in November 2011, she was back in a University of Colorado Hospital operating room, where McCarter removed the two-thirds of her liver surrounding the offender. This was a major operation, one Leffler described as \u201cnot a surgery I would wish upon anyone,\u201d and it left an 18-inch scar. But the tumor was gone now.<\/p>\n

Not done yet<\/strong><\/h2>\n

By now Elliott was in preschool, and Leffler and her husband Chris were determined, as she put it, \u201cthat we would do everything we could to keep Elliott\u2019s life as normal as we could. We didn\u2019t hide anything from him.\u201d This honesty once manifested a call from a teacher, who said Elliott was telling classmates his mom was going to the doctor a lot and had cancer. Might it be a case of a child\u2019s vivid imagination? No, Leffler told her, that\u2019s about right.<\/p>\n

\"Jennifer
Jennifer and Chris Leffler were thrilled when they were able to have a second baby. Their older son, Elliott, was counting on having a little brother and he was right. Photo by Joel Blocker.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Six months later, in May 2012, a scan lit up a spot on her lung. She considered surgery, but opted, with Stone\u2019s guidance, for stereotactic radiation treatment under the care of radiation oncologist Joshua Petit, MD<\/a>, at UCHealth Radiation Oncology – Harmony Campus<\/a>. This involved a small number of targeted, high-dose radiation treatments \u2013 in Leffler\u2019s case, three 20-minute sessions. The treatments left her with pneumonitis (pneumonia induced by radiation rather than bacteria or viruses) and radiation-induced rib fracture, common side effects. But it wiped out the cancer. She went back on Avastin, and ended up doing another surgery with McCarter, this time to have an abdominal mesh put in to shore up herniation remnant from previous surgeries. That was in October 2012. By May 2013, it looked like she had put her cancer care \u2013 which had involved a full spectrum of chemotherapy, radiation therapy and oncological surgery \u2013 behind her.<\/p>\n

\"Cancer
Beckett Leffler is his dad’s arms. Photo by Joel Blocker.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A year passed, then two, then three. The scans stayed clean. She had asked Stone about the possibility of having another child. He told her what she knew all too well — that her body\u2019s been through a lot, and that it can affect fertility. But, he added, there\u2019s no reason she and Chris couldn\u2019t. She consulted with Natalie Rochester, MD<\/a>, the obstetrics and gynecology specialist leading the medical practices at the UCHealth Women\u2019s Care Clinics in Greeley<\/a> and Loveland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Try again<\/strong><\/h2>\n

They talked through the risks. Chemotherapy can stop ovulation, but that didn\u2019t seem to be a problem for Leffler. More of a concern was the potential of scar tissue from the surgeries or the abdominal mesh complicating the cesarean section she would need to have. She was also 39 now. Rochester was supportive, as were UCHealth maternal fetal medicine specialists from University of Colorado Hospital, who consult in Greeley once a week. The Lefflers decided to try, but without the aid of in-vitro fertilization or other fertility treatments. If it happened, it happened.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Leffler family. Photo by Joel Blocker.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It happened: Leffler found out she was pregnant in May 2017. On Jan. 2, Beckett Leffler arrived at Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland. Rochester did the honors, with UCHealth surgeon Claire Pederson, MD<\/a>, standing by in case of complications. Pederson remained a spectator: there had been little scarring, Rochester found, and the C-section incision was below the bottom of the abdominal mesh.<\/p>\n

Leffler, whose case brings a whole new meaning to \u201cone tough mother,\u201d is now reminded of more standard travails of the experience. \u201cOh yeah \u2013 this not-sleeping thing. I remember this,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m almost nine years older!\u201d<\/p>\n

Elliott, 8, had wanted a brother, she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe asked for one for a long time,\u201d Leffler said. \u201cSo he lucked out on that one. We were afraid he was going to move out if it was a sister.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she was \u201cnothing but impressed\u201d with the her UCHealth providers across the board. She runs into her oncology nurses in Greeley on occasion. \u201cThis pregnancy was a gift to them, too, in many ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the sort of news an oncologist like Stone doesn\u2019t get too often \u2013 cancer patients tend to be older. But there have been a few: one who beat acute leukemia as a teenager has two kids 19 years later, he said, and he\u2019s had men beat testicular cancer and Hodgkin\u2019s disease to go on and have children.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Jennifer and Chris Leffler kiss their second son, Beckett. Photo by Joel Blocker.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great, yeah,\u201d Stone said. \u201cSuper that people can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rochester said she\u2019ll see a handful of cancer survivors or so a year, but it\u2019s typically breast and thyroid cancers or leukemia. Colorectal cancer survivors like Leffler are rare in her line of work, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s super-strong and she\u2019s a ray of sunshine,\u201d Rochester said. \u201cBecause even though she\u2019s had this horrible diagnosis, she\u2019s in remission and she\u2019s normal \u2013 it\u2019s awesome, actually<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jennifer Leffler just wasn\u2019t feeling herself, something most sleep-deprived first-time parents can commiserate with. But the feeling went on longer than it should have after her son Elliott\u2019s birth in March 2009. She checked in with certified nurse midwife Krista O\u2019Leary at UCHealth Women\u2019s Care Clinic – Greeley. O\u2019Leary didn\u2019t like what she saw, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":14701,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[28,223,2973,2974,2937,309,1242,212],"class_list":["post-14687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovative-care","tag-cancer-care-oncology","tag-cancer-care-and-hematology","tag-jennifer-leffler","tag-joshua-petitt","tag-natalie-rochester","tag-pregnancy","tag-radiology","tag-womens-care"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCancer success, then a new baby - UCHealth Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jennifer Leffler wasn't feeling like herself after her son's birth eight years ago. 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