Cancer doesn't care about dreams

By Natalie Thompson

Some people dream of becoming president, a rock star or an actor.

I only had one dream. I wanted to be a mom.

But it wasn’t easy for me. My husband and I tried to get pregnant for six years. Six long years. We prayed. We tried every remedy suggested. We cried over negative tests. Then we prayed some more.

Finally, in October 2024, it happened. I was pregnant. 

After six years of hoping, waiting and wondering if it would ever happen, our dream was finally coming true.

Then, in November, my right shoulder started to hurt. At first, I ignored it. I was pregnant and focused on preparing for our baby. But the pain kept getting worse.

Eventually, I scheduled an appointment with Dr. Matthew Craig at the Genesis Orthopedic Center. The results revealed what could be cancer in my shoulder.

By then, I was nine months pregnant.

We had tried so hard, waited so long and come so far. We were finally within reach of becoming parents.

Then came more tests. One morning, I woke up at 4 a.m. to get ready for work and logged into MyChart.

What I read changed my life. I had cancer. And it was spreading through my body.

I sat staring at the screen.

It wasn’t just the diagnosis that shattered me. It was what the diagnosis threatened to take away.

After waiting six years for a child, I suddenly found myself wondering if I would live long enough to watch my daughter grow up.

I woke my husband and shared the news.

Would our baby be okay? How would he raise her without me?

My mind immediately went to practical things. I started talking about life insurance and finances. I was planning for a future I desperately didn’t want to imagine.

Most of all, I couldn’t understand why.

Why would God deny us a child for so long, bring us so close to our dream and then allow something like this to happen?

I called off work while tears streamed down my face. My friend calmly told me what I needed to do and stayed on the phone until I finished.

Then I stepped outside.

It was 4:30 in the morning. The sky was dark. The grass beneath my bare feet was cool and damp.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

And I thought about what mattered most.

I wanted to be a mom.

That hadn’t changed.

The fear didn’t disappear. The sadness didn’t disappear. But I decided they weren’t going to control me.

The love I already felt for my daughter was stronger. I was going to fight for the chance to be her mother.

I went to an appointment at Genesis Cancer Care Center, where Dr. Scott Wegner started the next stage of testing.

Soon after, I called Dr. Callie Crider, an Obstetrician with Genesis HealthCare System, who had been caring for my unborn baby.

For the first time since seeing my diagnosis, I felt something I hadn’t felt in days.

Hope.

Because of the complexity of my situation, I also traveled to Columbus to meet with a high-risk pregnancy specialist. But I knew I wanted my care close to home. I needed expertise, but I needed more than that. I needed people who truly cared about my baby and me.

I returned to Dr. Crider and told her she would deliver my daughter.

Soon after, I had my biopsy, followed by more tests to determine where the cancer started. Not surprisingly, my blood pressure rose, and Dr. Crider induced me early.

The next day, doctors performed another biopsy.

The day after having my baby, I received the results.

It was HR-positive breast cancer with metastases. The cancer was fueled by hormones and had spread to other parts of my body.

I was rushed to the Genesis Cancer Care Center, where Dr. Scott Wegner and Dr. Shalini Gupta created a personalized care plan for me. They gave me more hope.

I underwent 10 rounds of radiation over two-and-a-half weeks. I received monthly hormone injections to suppress cancer growth, treatments to strengthen the bone in my shoulder and daily medications.

Most importantly, I never felt alone.

My team of doctors and nurses answered every question. They addressed every concern. Every step of the way, I was treated with compassion, dignity and kindness.

And through it all, I had my baby. I had my daughter. And I had my life.

My journey to motherhood didn’t happen the way I imagined it would.

But when I look at my little girl today, I think about everything that nearly slipped away.

Six years of waiting. A devastating diagnosis. Fear, uncertainty and countless tears.

Yet because of the care I received, I get to watch her grow.

I get to hold her. I get to be her mom.

For that, my daughter, my husband and I will be forever grateful to the Genesis caregivers who stood beside us when we needed them most.

But surviving changed something else in me. I couldn’t stop thinking about those who would come after me. The patients who would walk through the doors of the Genesis Cancer Care Center, wondering if they would get their lives back.

I knew exactly how impossible that could feel. And I knew I wanted to do something about it.

Paying it forward

Learning I had cancer was scary. Fearing I would never get to be a mom was devastating.

Once I was past the shock and accepted the challenge God had given me, I was determined to beat it. So, I tackled treatment like everything else in life. I kept my head up and looked for the good.

There was good in treatment. I met wonderful people. Many of whom were going through the same thing I was.

We grew close. When one of us finished treatment, my husband and I would throw a little party.

Come on. How can you not celebrate beating cancer?

Eventually, my day came. I finished that stage of treatment.

But I couldn’t stop thinking about those who would follow me into the Genesis Cancer Care Center. I knew how it could feel impossible. I wanted to do something for them.

With the help of several Genesis employees and the Genesis HealthCare Foundation, we organized the first Hope in Motion 5K and 1 Mile Memory Walk.

Our families, teammates, neighbors and community members came together to support cancer patients and their families.

Nearly 500 people participated, raising over $20,000. It was an incredible reminder that sometimes the hardest experiences in our lives can lead us to help someone else.

And I was about to learn just how far one simple act of helping could reach.