Mom with Cancer Dies to Protect Unborn Child

Ryan Duncan | Updated: Apr 02, 2014

Mom with Cancer Dies to Protect Unborn Child

Last month, a New York mother made the ultimate sacrifice – foregoing much needed medical treatment to protect the life of her unborn daughter. According to The Blaze, Elizabeth Joice was diagnosed in 2010 with a malignant tumor. After undergoing surgery and four rounds of chemotherapy, she was declared cancer-free. Both Elizabeth and her husband, Max, wanted to start a family despite protest from doctors, and in 2013 the happy couple announced that they were pregnant. One month later the news came: the cancer had returned.

The two of them were faced with a heartbreaking decision: Abort the child and begin treatment immediately, start treatment and continue the pregnancy – or delay treatment altogether to protect the unborn child.

For Joice, the decision was clear.

“’Having a kid was one of the most important things in the world to her,’ Max told the New York Post. ‘She said, ‘If we terminate the pregnancy and it turns out I can’t have a baby [later], I’ll be devastated.’ She knew this might be her only chance.’”

Despite several surgeries and an early delivery, the cancer spread and Joice’s health failed. She died on March 9th. Yet before she passed she delivered a healthy daughter, whom her father has named Lily. Friends and family have begun organizing fundraisers of the father and daughter to support them in the future.

*Published 4/2/2014



Mom with Cancer Dies to Protect Unborn Child