Despite being diagnosed with colon cancer in the sixth month of pregnancy, a 36-year-old Jordanian woman overcame the difficulties and pains and gave birth to a healthy baby at Abu Dhabi – Burjeel Hospital. Rania Fuad Al-Sheikh suffered from severe abdominal pain throughout her pregnancy and as the weeks went by, her condition worsened and she became bedridden. Rania said: “When I found out I was going to be a mother for the second time, I felt it. Was very happy, but as my pregnancy progressed, I started suffering from severe pain and heaviness. “In my stomach and liver, in the sixth month of pregnancy, I was tired and had no appetite for food. I was transferred to the emergency room at Barjeel Hospital” Rania added: “I thanked God Almighty because we finally knew the cause of the pain and I was not sad because everything that comes from God is good. I wanted my baby to be healthy.”

Dr Muhannat Diab, an oncologist at Burjeel Hospital in Abu Dhabi, said: When Rania first arrived in April, she was unable to move or speak because biopsies revealed an aggressive form of colon cancer called mucinous adenocarcinoma. While the patient was in critical condition, further tests showed that the child’s condition was unstable, and realizing the seriousness of the situation, the hospital’s multidisciplinary team came up with a comprehensive chemotherapy plan. When the patient was 26 weeks pregnant, after three days of chemotherapy, the patient was able to move and was discharged from the hospital a week after the first chemotherapy session. She continued to have weekly medical appointments during which the team monitored her. Until the baby is born. In the 35th week of her pregnancy, Rania completed five rounds of chemotherapy, underwent a caesarean section, and delivered her little boy weighing 2.32 kilograms.