Montreal woman undergoes chemo while pregnant, delivers healthy son

A Montreal woman diagnosed with stage three breast cancer just two weeks after learning she was pregnant chose to continue the pregnancy and undergo chemotherapy while carrying her child, delivering a healthy baby boy in a case that underscores a specialized clinic designed to care for pregnant cancer patients.

Habalet Andrée Loblegnon, a 41-year-old mother of three, discovered she was pregnant on May 15, 2024. Two weeks later, she received the cancer diagnosis. She had noticed a lump under her right armpit during her third pregnancy, but her doctor said at the time it was not a cause for concern. When faced with the decision after her fourth pregnancy, Loblegnon said she did not hesitate to carry the baby to term, even though it meant chemotherapy during pregnancy. She said she broke down when she returned home to her husband and three children.

Loblegnon’s case is extremely rare. Less than 0.1 percent of pregnant women in Canada receive a cancer diagnosis, according to Dr. Claude-Emilie Jacob, an obstetrician-gynecologist at the Centre hospitalier de l’Universite de Montreal, known as the CHUM. Jacob said she opened a clinic dedicated to pregnant cancer patients five years ago...