Yorkshire mum’s ‘miracle’ pregnancy after suffering from rare ovarian cancer at just 17

Cancer Research UK is facing a huge shortfall in funding. Nurse and mum Danielle Thompson tells Grace Hammond how the charity’s research saved her life.
Sheffield mum, nurse and cancer survivor, Danielle Thompson (26), is backing a Cancer Research UK appeal for donations to help bridge a devastating fundraising gap caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pictured with her son Oscar.

Photograph by Richard Walker/ImageNorthSheffield mum, nurse and cancer survivor, Danielle Thompson (26), is backing a Cancer Research UK appeal for donations to help bridge a devastating fundraising gap caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pictured with her son Oscar.

Photograph by Richard Walker/ImageNorth
Sheffield mum, nurse and cancer survivor, Danielle Thompson (26), is backing a Cancer Research UK appeal for donations to help bridge a devastating fundraising gap caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Pictured with her son Oscar. Photograph by Richard Walker/ImageNorth

When Danielle Thompson suffered excruciating pain in her stomach, doctors were convinced she was pregnant.

The then 17-year-old had to convince first her mum and then the doctors she could not be pregnant. Further tests and then surgery revealed she had, in fact, a cancerous tumour the size of an orange on one of her ovaries.

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When a similar thing happened a few years later, Danielle was concerned that the cancer had returned – but this time she was actually pregnant.

Danielle pictured with her son Oscar, her mum Sue and dad Paul at their home in Sheffield.

Photograph by Richard Walker/ImageNorthDanielle pictured with her son Oscar, her mum Sue and dad Paul at their home in Sheffield.

Photograph by Richard Walker/ImageNorth
Danielle pictured with her son Oscar, her mum Sue and dad Paul at their home in Sheffield. Photograph by Richard Walker/ImageNorth

Now the 26-year-old nurse from Sheffield is backing a campaign to try to fill the funding shortfall for Cancer Research UK caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“My own experience means I understand the importance of Cancer Research UK’s work all too clearly. I was absolutely devastated when I was told I had cancer. I thought my dreams of being a nurse and being a mum had been cruelly taken away from me. But it’s thanks to research there were tests to diagnose it and treatments to cure it, so my dreams really did come true.”

Cancer Research UK is predicting a £300m drop in income over the next three years, which could put future breakthroughs at risk for people like her. During December, the charity was forced to slash £45m from its research budget. It was able to spend only around half of what is normally expected at this time, which means dozens of potential life-saving projects and hundreds of world class scientists have been left unfunded.

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This comes on top of £44m of cuts that were made to the charity’s current grants at the start of the pandemic, as well as not being able to fund any new clinical trials during the 2020/21 financial year. That is why Danielle is sharing her story to complement Cancer Research UK’s latest TV appeal, which features a direct plea for donations from leading scientist, Professor Richard Gilbertson.

Nurse Danielle thought the cancer had returned when she was in fact pregnant.  Photograph by Richard Walker/ImageNorthNurse Danielle thought the cancer had returned when she was in fact pregnant.  Photograph by Richard Walker/ImageNorth
Nurse Danielle thought the cancer had returned when she was in fact pregnant. Photograph by Richard Walker/ImageNorth

The message in the film is clear – to save lives tomorrow, the charity needs the public’s support today.

In August 2011, Danielle had just turned 17 and was getting ready to start her second year of A-level studies at All Saints’ Catholic High School Sixth Form. One morning she woke up with excruciating pain in her abdomen and, worried that it might be appendicitis, went straight to the NHS Walk in Centre. There, a doctor thought her appendix had actually burst and an ambulance took her to Northern General Hospital, where she was met by her mum Sue.

Danielle had a number of tests. A urine test showed raised levels of hCG hormone, usually used 
as an indicator of early pregnancy.

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“The doctors told me I was pregnant. I said there was no way, but they were adamant. I had to convince them – and more embarrassingly my mum – that I wasn’t, I couldn’t be. Thankfully mum believed me and encouraged them to do more tests to find out what was really wrong.”

Danielle had an ultrasound and doctors could see what they thought were cysts on her ovary and she was transferred to the Royal Hallamshire gynaecology department. During the operation to remove the cysts, a tumour the size of an orange was found, fused to her right ovary and fallopian tube, which took nearly four hours to remove.

Tests showed it was a germ cell tumour. Germ cell tumours begin in the ovarian cells that develop into eggs (germ cells) and can spread to other parts of the body. They are rare and usually affect girls and young women up to their early 30s. Less than two per cent of ovarian cancers are this type. Ovarian germ cell tumours can also result in high levels of hCG hormone, hence the initial belief that Danielle was pregnant.

She put her A-levels on hold while she recovered from the surgery. But a scan in February 2012 showed the cancer had returned and spread to lymph nodes near her kidneys. Surgery wasn’t an option and she needed chemotherapy. Before chemo started, she had her eggs frozen as an insurance against possible infertility caused by the treatment, as she had always dreamed of becoming a mum.

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In May 2012, she was given the all clear. “I began getting my life back on track. I started my studies to become a nurse. It was always my dream to become a nurse. I loved it from the first day, especially working with children.” But when Danielle was 21 a routine check-up showed her levels of hGC hormone had shot up again.

“I was really scared the cancer had come back. I had more tests, including a scan. But the next day I was told it wasn’t cancer – this time I was actually seven weeks pregnant. It was a bit of a shock and took me a while to take it in. I didn’t really believe it till I saw an actual baby on a later scan. And I was over the moon, I never thought I could ever have children.”

In May 2016 baby Oscar was born and is now a boisterous four-year-old. Although Danielle and her boyfriend didn’t stay together, she finished her nursing degree, moved back in with her parents and now works as a neonatal nurse on the Jessop Wing in Sheffield.

“I think that if I had been diagnosed with cancer years ago, the outcome might not have been the same for me. So it’s distressing to think that progress that could help more people like me survive cancer in the future is being delayed because of the effects of the pandemic. Nobody wants to see scientists have to start hanging up their lab coats, so I hope that people will be inspired by the charity’s determination to carry on beating cancer and give what they can. They could give hope to people like me.”

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In the year before the Covid-19 outbreak, Cancer Research UK was able to spend more than £5m in the region last year on some of the UK’s leading scientific and clinical research – helping more people like Danielle, survive cancer.

But with fundraising dramatically down, life-saving work such as this is under threat.

Due to the drop in income from the pandemic, around 100 fewer research grants were funded this winter,

There are lots of different ways people can help to get research back on track by:

Making a donation

Fundraising

Signing up to Walk All Over Cancer

www.cancerresearchuk.org

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