I left my gender reveal baby scan with a ‘silent-killer’ diagnosis

As expectant mum Janine Edgar stared astatine the sonographer’s monitor, she was excited to drawback a glimpse of her unborn baby.

At 20 weeks pregnant, this would beryllium the scan wherever she’d find retired if she was having a lad oregon daughter.

But what should person been a peculiar infinitesimal for Janine, present 44, and her hubby Chris, turned into a nightmare, aft the scan revealed thing acold much sinister.

Doctors recovered a tumour, and she was yet diagnosed with bladder cancer.

Janine, who lives successful Hadleigh, Suffolk, went for the regular sex scan successful 2006. She says: ‘Going in, I wasn’t definite what to expect, but I’d felt definite from the commencement of my gestation that I was having a boy’. 

Janine’s inkling was right, and she was thrilled erstwhile she learnt she would soon go a lad mum.

But aft her scan, Janine and Chris were ushered into a broadside room, wherever they were fixed shocking news. The scan had besides revealed a maturation successful her bladder, close adjacent to her baby’s head.

Janine recalled: ‘My archetypal thoughts were for the baby, but erstwhile they explained it wouldn’t impact him, I felt tense astir what was coming adjacent for me.’

Still unsure precisely what the maturation was, she remembers having ‘mixed feelings’, and contempt everything, was overjoyed to beryllium having a son. She says: ‘There was alleviation that the babe was healthy, and excitement that we were going to person a boy.’

But it was a period later, aft undergoing a cystoscopy – a process that looks wrong the bladder – that Janine would beryllium diagnosed with bladder cancer. Alone astatine the time, she met her hubby successful the waiting room, and they ‘drove location successful a spot of a fog’. 

Janine said: ‘It sends you into a authorities of daze whenever idiosyncratic mentions cancer. You cheque retired mentally and find yourself checking backmost and asking questions. Thankfully, my cousin, a urologist could reply a batch of my questions.’

But, she besides admits she felt immoderate ‘relief’ upon receiving her diagnosis. The present mum-of-two believes she’d really been experiencing symptoms since she was a child, and thought: ‘Finally, determination is an explanation.’

In fact, Janine archetypal noticed humor successful her urine – a communal grounds of bladder crab – astatine conscionable 12 years old.

Originally from Zimbabwe, Janine said she spent predominant weekends waterskiing successful her location state – wherever she explained determination is simply a occupation with a waterborne illness called ‘schistosomiasis’ (also known arsenic bilharzia), caused by a parasitic worm that tin participate the body, which tin origin immoderate cancers. She believed that this is wherefore she experienced truthful galore UTIs increasing up.

She moved to the UK to survey astatine assemblage successful 1999. Due to switching GPs implicit the years and moving around, her doctors were incapable to recognise a signifier successful her symptoms. 

As her aboriginal 20s progressed, her symptoms worsened, resulting successful achy UTIs arsenic often arsenic each six to 8 weeks.

Luckily, she had a beardown enactment system, including Chris, who was her fellow astatine the time, and a radical of ‘really bully girlfriends’. They brainstormed countless ways to assistance her negociate the pain, but thing worked. 

Janine said: ‘The magnitude of h2o I drank was ridiculous. I chopped retired wheat. I chopped retired alcohol. You think, “It conscionable doesn’t look just really”.’

But portion Janine yet had immoderate answers to her life-long wellness issues, she was astir to embark connected a daunting journey.

Janine explains: ‘In the last weeks starring up to giving commencement I was having checks doubly a week conscionable to spot however the babe was doing and if the maturation was getting bigger.’

‘It was a balancing enactment betwixt my wellness and his birth, truthful I accepted that helium mightiness travel early. 

‘But, everyone I spoke to reassured maine that they thought it was dilatory increasing fixed I had had it for truthful long. So, determination wasn’t speech of it being terminal.

‘By the clip they decided to induce me, 2 weeks early, I was heavy large and conscionable excited to conscionable our small man. I didn’t consciousness fearful; I was implicit the moon, though rather exhausted aft the agelong labour.‘

Thankfully, babe lad Jonty was calved February 15, 2007, blessed and healthy, but conscionable 2 weeks later, Janine was backmost successful hospital, wherever she underwent country to region the ‘moderate people 2 tumour’, followed by chemo-wash, a benignant of attraction that involves injecting chemotherapy into the bladder.

As caller parents surviving 2 and a fractional hours distant from the hospital, Janine said the attraction ‘felt similar a monumental task’. 

She said: ‘We had to battalion similar we were moving house, particularly since we didn’t cognize however agelong Chris and Jonty would request to stay. I was besides breastfeeding Jonty astatine the time, but due to the fact that of the wide anaesthesia, I had to pause.

‘Thankfully, we had already started supplementing with formula, truthful we were prepared.’

Janine was discharged precocious the aforesaid day, with Jonty and Chris by her broadside throughout. However, astatine her six-month check-up, the doctors discovered different shadow. Janine said: ‘They had to spell backmost successful to check. Thankfully, determination was nary treatment.’

She added: ‘Now, that was frightening. That did marque america see if we had been naïve successful our attitudes truthful far. But determination was thing there.’

Although she described it arsenic a ‘challenging time’, Janine said she ne'er felt similar she missed retired connected thing arsenic a caller parent.

She said: ‘I adored Jonty from the infinitesimal helium was born. I had nary framework of notation for a “normal” experience, arsenic Jonty was our archetypal child, truthful we conscionable got connected with it.’

Janine said she felt conscionable arsenic exhausted arsenic immoderate different first-time mum. She said: ‘Those archetypal fewer months are highly exhausting. There’s thing that tin hole you for the breached night’s slumber and the relentless regular of feeding and changing.

‘However, Chris was incredible. He was precise hands-on and erstwhile I felt overwhelmed, particularly with the quality aft my six-month check, helium would instrumentality over.’

Janine was fixed the all-clear aft a further six months and, upon receiving the news, felt ‘relieved’.

She explained: ‘Having suffered with recurrent UTIs for years, it was large to cognize that I wouldn’t beryllium plagued by them again. Plus if they did travel back, I knew I would person idiosyncratic to speech to immediately. ‘

She added: ‘This travel has surely shifted my perspective. I present spot my gut instinct much — if thing feels off, I don’t hesitate to get much opinions. I’ve besides learned that a crab diagnosis doesn’t needfully mean the end. It’s made maine much determined to marque the astir of life, and going done this has decidedly made maine stronger.’

While Janine volition person yearly check-ups for the remainder of her life, she said: ‘I’m grateful that I nary longer endure from UTIs and tin absorption afloat connected being a mum.’

One happening Janine wished she had known earlier her diagnosis, was that her symptoms were ‘not normal’. She said: ‘The doctors kept giving maine antibiotics. They didn’t inquire maine immoderate questions oregon questions astir the information that I had humor successful my urine. The information that I was bleeding was not normal.

‘It’s besides seen arsenic an older person’s illness which is possibly wherefore they [the doctors] didn’t prime it up.’

Bladder cancer, often referred to arsenic the ‘silent killer’ tin make without showing signs until it’s precocious and affects millions worldwide. Janine urges everyone to ‘look retired for the informing signs.’

Had the crab not been detected during the regular scan, she reflected, ‘it’s not worthy reasoning about’, what mightiness person happened. 

Janine is presently grooming for London’s Royal Parks Half Marathon, presented by Royal Bank of Canada connected October 13 – her 4th fractional marathon – successful assistance of Cancer Research.

Janine, who is present besides mum to Eloise, 15, and Jonty, who is present 17, is simply a keen runner and acceptable up the Hadleigh Jeffing Queens successful February 2022, with her person Julia, a women’s moving nine that supports women of each ages. With 50 members ranging successful property from their aboriginal 30s to 70s, Janine credits the space, and running, arsenic her ‘outlet erstwhile things get a spot crazy’. 

She is moving the fractional marathon to rise consciousness of bladder cancer, arsenic good arsenic successful representation of her mum who she mislaid to crab successful 2009.

Janine’s parent had acute myeloid leukaemia – a crab of the achromatic humor cells that progressives rapidly and aggressively. Janine says: ‘She was lone 51 and my champion friend, truthful this tally is precise adjacent to my heart.’

To donate to Janine’s cause, visit: fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/janines-giving-page-2481.

Do you person a communicative to share?

Get successful interaction by emailing [email protected].

MORE : Mums are hiding wealth connected supermarket shelves for an important reason

MORE : I was forced to enactment from my infirmary furniture during crab treatment

MORE : Fury astatine mum waxing toddler’s brows shows we request to speech astir ‘messages we nonstop kids’

This tract is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.