Mum thought the cancer that nearly killed her had returned – but she was five months pregnant with a miracle baby

A CANCER survivor who thought the disease had come back when she began to feel unwell discovered she was actually four months PREGNANT.

Kayleigh Gilbert, 31, had given up on her dream of having a son after being told that eight months of aggressive chemotherapy to battle acute myeloid leukaemia had left her “infertile”.

Despite already being a mum to Lyla, now seven, and Aoife, now five, she had always longed for a boy, but in June 2014 doctors gave her less than one percent chance of conceiving naturally.

Kayleigh went into remission but when she began feeling nauseous and run down in October 2015, she was terrified the cancer had returned.

Instead, tests revealed she was actually four-and-a-half months’ pregnant – with a little boy.

Eilon, arrived on June 9 this year, weighing 7lb 6oz and Kayleigh partner en Richardson, 31, were overjoyed.

She said:  “Around 6:30pm, I began feeling twinges, like the beginning of labour and by 7:30pm, I’d given birth.

“My partner, and I hadn’t found out the gender beforehand, so as soon as I saw it was a boy, I burst into tears.

“I think I cried for about an hour. I can’t describe how it felt to hold my son for the first time. It was like all my prayers had been answered.”

Kayleigh, of Mildenhall, Suffolk, first began to feel unwell around three years ago.

Feeling run down with flu-like symptoms, she visited her GP and was initially told she’d just contracted a virus.

However, over the next five months, her health rapidly declined until eventually, she was sleeping up to 18 hours a day.

She explained: “It started interfering with my job at a dry cleaner’s. I’d turn up for work and look so unwell, I’d be sent straight home most days.

“I also had terrible aching in my legs. They felt like concrete.

“It got to the point where I could barely walk.”

After her boss urged her to go back to the doctor, Kayleigh was transferred to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge for a blood test.

Within 15 minutes of leaving her appointment, she was called back and told a team of medics were waiting for her in accident and emergency.

Then, she was given the devastating news that she had leukaemia, a cancer of the white blood cells.

Kayleigh said: “I just went completely numb. You never think it’s going to happen to you, so I was in complete shock.

“I vaguely remember thinking how I’d read about a lot of children having leukaemia, so part of me thought, ‘Thank God it’s me going through this and not my children.’”

Doctors told Kayleigh she would need to begin chemotherapy within the hour.

She continued: “Ben asked if I could go home, pack and bag and say goodbye to the girls first, but they said no.

“They said if I didn’t start treatment right away, I would be dead within 72 hours.”

Kayleigh’s first bout of chemotherapy included a week as an inpatient, followed by a four week isolation period to stop her weakened immune system from picking up any infections.

This meant that, for five long weeks, she was kept apart from her children.

By the time she saw Lyla and Aoife again, she’d lost all her hair.

“I was worried about scaring or upsetting them,” she said. “But they took it all on the chin. Lyla turned to me and said, ‘You still look pretty.’ They’re such amazing girls.”

Kayleigh’s chemotherapy was so aggressive, she was warned it’d left her with a one percent chance of ever having another child.

In addition, she had to have surgery to untwist her bowel because of complications with treatment.

A stitch was accidentally left in her stomach following the operation, which became infected, reducing her chances of conceiving from ‘bleak’ to ‘non-existent.’

Because she’d already had two children, Kayleigh was not given the option to freeze her eggs.

She said: “Of course, I love my girls, but I’ve always longed for a son, too, so the news was heartbreaking.

“When I was told I was more or less infertile, I kept saying, ‘But what about my little boy?’

“I felt like I’d already battled cancer, and now I was having something else taken away from me. It was so unfair.”

In time, Kayleigh went into remission but, in October 2015 started feeling tired and nauseous, and feared her cancer was back.

“Ben kept saying to me, ‘What if you’re pregnant?’ but the idea was so impossible to me that I didn’t take it seriously,’” she said.

“I took a test anyway just in case, and it was positive. We both sat in silence staring at it, waiting for a, ‘Just kidding’ to flash up.”

Though she didn’t dare believe it at first, Kayleigh’s pregnancy was soon confirmed via blood tests, performed by midwives at Addenbrooke’s.

She was then sent for a scan, which revealed that, not only was she expecting a baby she’d been told she’d never have – but she was already four-and-a-half months pregnant.

After being reassured by her oncologist that her cancer treatment hadn’t affected her unborn child, she enjoyed a healthy pregnancy and welcomed little Eilon into the world earlier this year.

And Lyla and Aoife are “smitten” with their little brother, always showering him in kisses and cuddles, according to Kayleigh.

Still in remission, she now has to go back to hospital for check ups every six months.

Reflecting on her remarkable story, she said: “The first night I spent in hospital, a lady in the bed next to me said, ‘You won’t know what you’ve gone through until it’s over.

“I didn’t know what she meant at the time, but now I realise she was right.

“I spent so long on autopilot, completely focused on beating cancer, I just did what I was told by doctors – went to whatever appointment, took whatever meds.

“It’s only now, looking back, that it dawns on me how much I’ve been through.”

Yesterday we revealed the tragic story of a 31-year-old mum who died after being refused life-saving drugs because her case wasn't "exceptional" enough.