Mum told she has months to live after baby survives intensive care

A mother has told of her heartbreak at being unable to see her daughter grow up after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Beth Durkin, 33, was told at her 20-week scan that her baby was missing a heart valve and would need major surgery.

Baby Olivia was later diagnosed with DiGeorge Syndrome, a genetic condition that can cause heart defects and learning difficulties among other conditions.

Beth stayed by Olivia’s side for three months of intensive care and finally took her home in January, only to be told in September that she had just six-to-12 months to live.

She said: ‘It hasn’t sunk in yet. I don’t think I have accepted it. I dread the day it does sink in to be honest.’

‘It would be easier if I knew Olivia was safe and going to be okay. I would be more okay with it then. But I brought her into this world and I want to be the one to make sure she is okay.’

Beth, who also has five-year-old Rhiannon with husband Marc and lives in Taff’s Well, Wales, declined the option to terminate her pregnancy after researching Olivia’s condition.

‘You’ve got to try haven’t you,’ she said. ‘I mean, look at her now.’

Olivia was born in Bristol Hospital in November 2018 and had a 12-hour operation to repair her heart at just 10 days old.

Beth said doctors did not expect her to live and could only watch as Olivia would go into seizures lasting up to two hours at a time.

The mum-of-two started feeling a niggling hip pain while staying by her daughter’s bedside but shrugged it off as a trapped nerve.

Olivia was released at the end of January but Beth’s pain progressively worsened.

After an MRI scan a consultant told her it was something a lot worse.

She said: ‘It was written all over their faces. I asked if whatever I had was serious, they just wouldn’t tell me. I said “Is it bad?” and he said, “well it’s not good news”.’

The doctor told her she had primary cancer in her lungs and secondary bone cancer and would live no more than a year.

‘He said something after that, but after I heard six to 12 months, I stopped listening,’ she added.

‘After we got Olivia home, I thought finally this Christmas would be the one we should have had last year. But then to be told this, it’s just unfair.’

The family have set up a GoFundMe page to try and fund additional private treatment alongside her NHS chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

They hope more targeted treatment will give her a better chance of survival.

Beth’s mum, Shirely Wiseman, 58, said: ‘We’re just hoping and hoping there’s a breakthrough somewhere. We are devastated. I just feel useless.’

‘Most people dealing with this are in their 60s or 70s. They get to go home after treatment and relax, but Beth is only 33 – she has a husband and two kids.’

Her dad Robert added: ‘We are grateful to have Olivia alive and well with us this Christmas, but our celebrations didn’t last long.’

‘What does a dad do? We are now raising money so that we can access that treatment and give Bethan the best chance of surviving this devastating illness.’