A Chicago woman was weeks away from giving birth when a persistent cough led to a shocking medical discovery.
Makenna Lauterbach, then 26, began experiencing severe coughing attacks during the last three months of her pregnancy.
“My symptoms were so severe that I was nauseous and vomiting,” she told Fox News Digital.
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Lauterbach, who lives on a farm in Washburn, Illinois, also began noticing shortness of breath while tending to her horses and goats.
“I was feeding my horse hay every morning and I noticed that he had a dry cough and was really tired,” she said. “My body felt like I had just run two miles, even though in reality I just walked back to the barn.”
Makenna Lauterbach, pictured with her husband Parker and newborn baby Colter, was diagnosed with stage 3 melanoma. (Northern Western Medicine)
She said some doctors ignored Lauterbach's symptoms and repeatedly told her, “It's because you're pregnant.”
But when the coughing eventually caused her to vomit, doctors ran tests and found a large, grapefruit-sized tumor in her mid-thoracic cavity and right lung, completely blocking the artery to her right lung.
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“It is very rare for this type of tumor to invade the major blood vessels of the heart,” Chris Mehta, M.D., a cardiac surgeon at Northwestern Medicine's Blum Heart and Vascular Institute who specializes in complex cardiac reconstruction, said in a press release. Ta.
“It is very rare for this type of tumor to invade the major blood vessels of the heart.”
“You might see something like this once every few years.”
The tumor was causing Lauterbach and her baby to have difficulty breathing.
“I'm really in trouble.”
Lauterbach was flown to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, where a large medical team was waiting for her.
“Makenna was in real trouble and we had to act quickly. This couldn't wait until Monday morning,” said Makenna, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Northwestern Medicine. Dr. Lin Yi said in the release.
Colter was born three weeks early and is now a happy, healthy baby boy. “As for myself, I'm still healing emotionally and physically,” Lauterbach said. (Makenna Lauterbach)
“When you're pregnant with a near-term baby, your lungs are already not working at full capacity, and when you add a huge tumor on top of that, you're at risk of respiratory failure or cardiac arrest.”
The baby was struggling to tolerate contractions, and Lauterbach's blood pressure was dropping rapidly.
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The team performed an emergency C-section and a healthy baby boy, Colten, was born on Easter Sunday.
“Dazzling news”
After giving birth, it's time to deal with the tumor.
“The tumor is located in the upper part of Makenna's heart and has spread to her right lung, affecting all three lobes and the entire main trunk of her pulmonary artery,” said Dr. Calvin Lunn, a thoracic surgeon at Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute. “It was affecting the people,” he said. release.
Doctors performed a biopsy and diagnosed Lauterbach with stage 3 melanoma.
The Lauterbach family lives on a farm in Washburn, Illinois. Makenna Lauterbach first experienced a severe coughing fit and shortness of breath while caring for horses and goats. (Makenna Lauterbach)
Doctors believe she may have had a melanoma on her skin at some point, and that “one or two cells escaped” and started growing inside her body.
“It was really blinding news,” Lauterbach told FOX News Digital. “When I was first diagnosed, I went through a roller coaster of emotions.”
“I was both grieving the birth plan I had spent months preparing and also dealing with the news of my unexpected diagnosis.”
After her initial relief at getting answers, she said she felt some anger that her symptoms had been ignored earlier. Then there was the fear of cancer itself.
“Thanks to the tumor, my birth came very quickly. I was grieving the birth plan I had spent months preparing while also dealing with the news of my unexpected diagnosis,” she said.
“My situation was serious, and while my clinical team was working on a treatment plan for my cancer, I was reassured that the NICU nurses said, [at Northwestern] They took really great care of our son. ”
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The Northwestern University team recommended that Lauterbach undergo three cycles of immunotherapy before surgery, which shrunk her tumor by 30%.
Pulmonologists and Mehta removed Lauterbach's entire right lung, part of her main pulmonary artery, and her lymph nodes.
The Lauterbach family is pictured with, from left to right, Dr. Calvin Lunn, registered nurse Mary Schuessler, and Dr. Lin Yi. (Northern Western Medicine)
“Although this surgery was riskier than other cancer surgeries because it required cardiopulmonary bypass and the need to repair major arteries leading to both lungs, it was a very successful procedure using well-proven techniques. It was done under safe conditions,” the lung doctor said. Fox News Digital.
“I was worried that no amount of surgery would be able to completely remove the tumor,” he continued.
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If the tumor had spread a little further into the aorta leading to the lungs, or even into the heart, the outcome might have been different.
But the surgery was successful, and Lauterbach's latest scans showed no evidence of metastatic melanoma.
Colter Lauterbach is pictured with Santa before his first Christmas. (Makenna Lauterbach)
“Her outcome was very good,” the lung doctor told FOX News Digital. “She has almost fully recovered from the surgery, but her main problem is shortness of breath due to only having one lung.”
“As far as the prognosis for the cancer, we expect it to be pretty good given that the entire tumor responded to the immunotherapy she received.”
“New Normal”
Today, Colter Lauterbach was born three weeks early, but he is a happy baby boy.
“As for myself, I'm still recovering emotionally and physically,” Makenna Lauterbach said. “My lung capacity is approaching the 'new normal' for me and I'm finally starting to get back to some sort of normal routine.”
“There are days when I can't get bad memories or unknowns out of my head.”
Looking ahead, Dr. Lauterbach will continue immunotherapy treatment for a year, and doctors will continue to monitor CT scans to ensure the cancer does not return.
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Doctors say her cancer is now considered “stable disease” and no new tumors have developed.
The new mother, who turned 27 in October, said she was looking forward to her son's first Christmas on the farm.
Makenna and Parker Lauterbach are pictured with their son Colter, who was born via emergency C-section. (Makenna Lauterbach)
“Emotionally, I try my best not to let the reality weigh on me, but there are days when I can't get the bad memories or the unknown out of my head,” she said.
“Colter and my wonderful husband Parker gave me the strength to get through it all.”
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To other women, Lauterbach emphasized the importance of “knowing your body.”
She says: “If you know something is wrong, don't just take 'I don't know' for an answer. Take your concerns seriously and get additional tests just in case, rather than letting them slip through the cracks.” Find someone who will do it for you,” he advised. Something related to life. ”
