Please help Amy and her family during this time

Hello, below is Amy Deenanauth's story regarding some of the crazy life events she has gone through. She has survived a rare cancer and is now pregnant with a miracle child. She did not expect to be out of work for months at a time. She had to stop working in August 2021 and will not be able to return likely until May 2022 or later. During this time she has been on bedrest for more than 3 months (God bless her!). She already has two wonderful kids she is trying to take care of. Amy works at a hospital as a PCNA and has worked during the Covid-19 pandemic on one of the busiest floors. Anyone that knows her can attest to the fact that she is a real life angel. She is one of the most giving, sweetest and most genuine people you can meet in life. She never asks for help and always wants to help others. If you could please consider donating some money during this difficult period of her life it would mean so much! Trying to take care of two kids and prepare for a new baby while being on bedrest is a challenge, please help in any way you can. Please pray for Amy and her family.

"A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed".

Proverbs 11:25

I had just turned 26 years old when I was diagnosed with an extremely rare type of cancer – Small Cell Neuroendocrine Carcinoma of the cervix. I was told that it was very aggressive, rare and accounted for less than 3% of all cervical cancers. The doctors at UH had never treated it before and knew very little about it, but I was told that my chances of surviving 5 more years was only 35%. 
The first route my oncologist wanted to go was to have me undergo a complete hysterectomy – I had no clear margins (areas the cancer had not yet reached) in my cervix, so this was the safest way to make sure as much of the cancer was taken out. Despite my poor prognosis, I refused. I already had a 5 year old son and a 4 year old daughter, but I desperately wanted another child. I felt in my heart that there had to be another way. 
I was warned that I would be risking my life by not having a hysterectomy, but my amazing oncologist researched and discovered a surgery that while not common in the United States, had been performed in other countries. It was very new and experimental and not enough data was available to know how long-term results would turn out, but I agreed to have it. I would be the first patient at UH to have this surgery, a radical trachelectomy. During this surgery, where they remove the entire cervix, surrounding tissues and lymph nodes, a cerclage was inserted so that in the future when I wanted to try for another baby, there would be a barrier to hold up my uterus since I no longer had a cervix. 
Unfortunately, following the surgery I had some complications and I had to have surgery to have the cerclage removed, along with the remaining viable tissue. All in all, I ended up having to undergo a total of five surgeries that year in relation to my cancer. 
Immediately after my radical trachelectomy I began fertility treatments so I could have my eggs harvested. I was to begin a very aggressive course of chemotherapy and there was no guarantee that my ovaries would survive it, so I would have my eggs harvested prior to that so I could have IVF later on. 
The harvesting was successful and I began my 3 months of chemo – 6-8 hours a day. 
All of the sickness, pain and risks were worth it, because on July 30, 2013 I received a CLEAR SCAN and was declared in remission!! I have been cancer free ever since!

I’ve always said that God never gives us more than we can handle, but sometimes situations can test that faith. In 2018 a catastrophe resulted in all my harvested eggs being destroyed. I was devastated and flooded with all kinds of emotions. That was my safety net, and now it was gone. I still really wanted at least one more child, and this prompted me to get evaluated with a fertility doctor. I received heartbreaking news. I was told that while my ovaries were still functioning, they were not functioning at their full capacity. Not only that, I was told that due to the excessive amount of scar tissue in my vaginal canal and uterus, that there would be no way for me to be able to get pregnant naturally – I would have to be artificially inseminated. As if that were not enough, the fertility specialist made it very clear that I would likely die if I attempted to carry a child myself. He said I had high chances of my uterus rupturing, miscarrying, hemorrhaging, etc. The risks he listed were numerous and he highly advised against it. 
I had the option of surrogacy, but not only could I not consider it because of the high costs, after long nights of dwelling on it I realized that I would not be able to emotionally handle another woman carrying my baby. I walked away from that appointment and never went back.

After a few years of having come to terms that I would not have another child, a miracle happened. 
My period was late .. initially I thought nothing of it, since I knew there was no chance of my being pregnant. Well, after a little over a week, still no period and some suspicious symptoms, I decided to take a pregnancy test, trying to not get my hopes up – after all, after years of nothing happening, what were the odds that it would? Much to my surprise the test was positive!! I immediately called my oncologist, who was absolutely ecstatic – she got me in to a high-risk maternal-fetal doctor for the very next day. After examining me and running some tests, my doctor was stunned and even said that she had no idea how this even happened, she was shocked. She admitted that it would be a risky pregnancy and I would have to have surgery to have a cerclage placed, but she assured me that she would do everything she could to keep me and baby healthy. 
I was scheduled for a laparoscopic cerclage insertion on September 1. It was supposed to only take about 1.5 hours and be fairly easy. I was told the biggest risks would be miscarriage or hemorrhaging but that they were low. The doctors seemed fairly confident that everything would go well. 
I’m still not sure what changed, but the morning of the surgery that confidence had noticeably diminished. I picked up on it immediately and asked if everything was going to be ok, and all they could say was that they would try their best. While they had done numerous cerclages before, they had never inserted a cerclage directly into the uterus (I could not have a cervical cerclage since I had no cervix, and an abdominal cerclage was not an option for me since I had no more viable tissue left). The chances of my miscarrying during this surgery was high. I cried from the minute they wheeled me out of the pre-op room until I closed my eyes when I was put under. 
When I finally woke up after surgery, the first thing I noticed was that I was in extremely excruciating pain. Definitely not what was expected from a simple laparoscopic procedure. I was given bittersweet news – my baby had survived the procedure and was doing well! The doctors updated me on the surgery – it turns out that I had such an excessive amount of scar tissue that attempting to insert the cerclage robotically was impossible. They spent three hours just cutting and removing the adhesions. They then called in 3 more specialists and made the decision to cut me open, but despite doing that they were not able to locate my uterine arteries to know where to safely place the stitching. All of the doctors were hesitant to attempt the stitch blind… finally one of the chief oncologists agreed to try, but he told my doctor right before he did “You know if I hit an artery, we won’t be able to stop the bleeding.” My doctor said “I know”. They knew how important it was to me that they did everything they possibly could to make this surgery happen and keep my baby safe. Using touch alone, he managed to locate my arteries and safely insert the cerclage. My surgery took a total of five hours and was the first of its kind at my hospital. And it was successful – after a night of anxiety, praying my contractions would diminish and my baby would be safe, I could finally breathe.


I am now 21 weeks along and my baby is doing amazing – SHE is very active and thriving. I have been off of work and on bed rest since August, because despite the surgery being successful, I still face many risks while carrying my child. As my uterus grows, the cerclage does not stretch with it, so it continues to pull tension against my uterus. Eventually, this could cause my uterus to rip open and I could hemorrhage. There is also a chance that the cerclage could become undone and I could miscarry. I attend bi-weekly appointments with ultrasound to keep a close eye on my progress and I will need to be hospitalized once I get a little bigger, so that if my uterus begins to tear, they can perform immediate emergency surgery. There is no doubt that my baby will be premature, but the goal is to get me to at least 28 weeks, where she will have a greater chance of survival. We will try to go past 28 weeks with careful observation, but we are taking it just one week at a time.

Looking back at all of the obstacles, grief and pain that have led me to this day, the domino effect of events continues to astound me. I am grateful every single day for what I have been blessed with and I know that all of the physical, emotional and financial sacrifices are worth it. We cannot wait to meet this little angel, and the name we picked for her couldn’t be more fitting – Eliana – meaning, “God has answered”.