A Chicago woman was just weeks away from giving birth when a nagging cough led to a shocking medical discovery.
MaKenna Lauterbach, then 26, began experiencing severe coughing fits in the last three months of her pregnancy.
“They would be so bad that I would get windy and nauseous to the point of vomiting,” she told Fox News Digital.
Lauterbach, who lives on a farm in Washburn, Illinois, also began noticing shortness of breath while tending to her horses and goats.
“I feed the horses every morning and I noticed how smelly I was getting from a dry cough,” she said.
“My body felt as if I had just run two miles, when, in reality, I had only walked to the barn and back.”
Some doctors dismissed Lauterbach’s symptoms, she said, repeatedly telling her, “It’s because you’re pregnant.”
Eventually, though, when the coughing led to vomiting, doctors ran scans and discovered a large, grapefruit-sized tumor in the middle chest cavity and right lung, which was completely blocking the artery in the right lung.
“It is extremely rare to see this type of tumor invade the major blood vessels of the heart,” Chris Mehta, MD — a cardiac surgeon with Northwestern Medicine’s Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute who specializes in complex heart reconstruction — said in a press release.
“We might see something like this once every few years.”
The tumor had put Lauterbach – and her baby – in respiratory distress.
‘In real trouble’
Lauterbach was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, where a large medical team was waiting for him.
“MaKenna was in real trouble and we had to act fast — this wasn’t something that could wait until Monday morning,” Lynn Yee, MD, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Northwestern Medicine, said in the release.
“When you’re pregnant with an almost full-term baby, your lungs are already not functioning at full capacity, and when you add a large tumor on top of that, you risk respiratory collapse and cardiac arrest.”
The baby was not coping well with the contractions and Lauterbach’s blood pressure was dropping.
The team performed an emergency C-section – and on Easter Sunday, a healthy boy, Colter, was born.
‘Blind news’
After the birth, it was time to treat the tumor.
“The tumor was sitting on top of MaKenna’s heart and extending into the right lung, affecting all three lobes and the entire main trunk of the pulmonary artery,” said Kalvin Lung, MD, a thoracic surgeon with the Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute. in. release.
Doctors performed a biopsy and diagnosed Lauterbach with stage 3 melanoma.
Doctors believe she may have had a melanoma on her skin at some point, and that “a cell or two escaped” and started growing inside her body.
“It was really blind news,” Lauterbach told Fox News Digital.
“When I first got the diagnosis, I went through a roller coaster of emotions.”
After feeling relieved to get an answer, she said she felt a little angry that her symptoms had been dismissed earlier.
Then there was the fear of cancer itself.
“Because of the tumor, the birth happened so quickly. “I was grieving over 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 plan to treat my cancer, it was comforting to know that the NICU nurses [at Northwestern] we were taking such wonderful care of our son.”
Taking life-saving action
The team at Northwestern recommended that Lauterbach undergo three cycles of immunotherapy before surgery, which helped shrink her tumor by 30%.
Dr. Lung and Dr. The Mehtas removed Lauterbach’s entire right lung, part of the main pulmonary artery and her lymph nodes.
“The surgery was risky compared to other cancer surgeries because of the need for cardiopulmonary bypass and the need to repair the main artery going to both lungs, but it was done under very safe conditions with well-proven techniques,” said Dr. Long. Fox News Digital.
“We were concerned that even with the extent of the surgery, we wouldn’t be able to completely remove the tumor,” he continued.
If the tumor had grown a little more into the main artery that goes to the lungs, or if it had involved the heart, there would have been a different outcome.
But the surgery was a success, and Lauterbach’s latest scans showed no evidence of metastatic melanoma.
“Her result was very good,” said Dr. Lung for Fox News Digital.
“She has almost completely recovered from the operation and her main problem is shortness of breath, which is a consequence of only one lung.”
“In terms of the prognosis of the cancer, we expect it to be quite good, given that the entire tumor responded to the immunotherapy treatment that she received.”
‘new normal’
Today, although he was born three weeks early, little Colter Lauterbach is a prosperous and happy boy.
“As for myself, I’m still healing, 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.”
Looking ahead, Lauterbach will continue immunotherapy treatments for a year, and doctors will continue to monitor with CT scans to make sure the cancer doesn’t return.
Her cancer is currently considered “stable disease,” doctors say, meaning no new tumors have appeared.
The new mother, who turned 27 in October, said she is looking forward to her son’s first Christmas on the farm.
“Emotionally, I try not to let reality weigh me down, but there are days when bad memories and the unknown haunt my thoughts,” she said.
“Colter and my wonderful husband, Parker, are the ones who have given me the strength to get through anything.”
For other women, Lauterbach emphasized the importance of “knowing your body.”
She advised: “If you know something is wrong, don’t take ‘I don’t know’ for an answer. Find someone who will take your concerns seriously and would rather do additional tests just in case than miss something life-threatening.”
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