Mum succumbs to cancer six weeks after giving birth

Elizabeth Joice was only a few months pregnant
when she received a devastating diagnosis, the
cancer she thought had been eradicated years
earlier had returned.
Joice, 36, had already agreed to be a part of a
documentary exploring each week of pregnancy
called “40 Weeks” when she received her
diagnosis. Director Christopher Henze said that
after Joice learned of her diagnosis she was faced
with a choice either to abort the pregnancy or
continue it with limited options on how to
diagnose and treat the disease.
Joice chose to continue her pregnancy and had
her baby in January. But she died last month, six
weeks after giving birth.
Joice was initially declared cancer-free in 2010,
but the chemotherapy had pushed her into early
menopause. As a result, Henze said both Joice
and her husband, Max Joice, were amazed when
she became pregnant last year.
Joice’s cancer, non-differentiated sarcoma, could
be partially removed by operation. However, dyes
used during scans could impact Joice’s
pregnancy, so a full body scan was not done to
see if there were other tumors. The Joices decided
against more invasive scanning and treatment and
hoped the cancer would not be virulent.
“Around week 25 or 26, they went through the
process of removing it and [she] seemed healthy.
We felt as positive as we could be,” said Henze,
who, with his crew, had been following Joice
through pregnancy and cancer appointments.
Joice appeared to love being pregnant even after
she had to juggle morning sickness with cancer
treatments, Henze said.
“I would do this for living if I could,” Joice told
Henze in an on-camera interview. "I really enjoy
pregnancy a lot ... all the stuff that’s been
happening has all been really cool stuff."
Towards the end of the pregnancy, there were
signs that the cancer had returned, as Joice had
trouble breathing, Henze said. A scan revealed a
mass in her lungs, and doctors ordered that Joice
deliver immediately.
Joice’s daughter, Lily, was delivered by c-section
in late January, six weeks early.
Dr. Joanne Stone, the director for Maternal Fetal
Medicine at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York, treated
Joice and said there were signs during the c-
section to suggest the cancer had returned.
"There were tons of tumor[s]," Stone said. "It had
spread all over her abdomen."
Although Stone was worried about Joice's
breathing, especially because of the mass in her
lungs, she said the first thing Joice said when the
breathing tube was removed was, "How’s Lily?
How’s the baby?"
"Her first thoughts were not 'Am I OK?," said
Stone.
Further scans revealed Joice had tumors
throughout her abdomen. Although she was put
into treatment, the cancer advanced rapidly and
she died March 9.
When Joice first told Henze about the diagnosis,
Henze said, he had hoped her story would be one
of recovery and that she could have seen the
documentary released.
“Her spirit is really beautifully positive. She’s so
open and thoughtful and considerate and honest,”
Henze said. “As a documentarian, that’s what
you’re always looking for. With Liz, it was not only
getting her honest feeling. ... I was brought into
her family.”
Stone called Joice a "remarkable" person with a
"sense of love and life." Stone recalled visiting
Joice after she was released from the ICU and was
meeting her newborn for the first time.
"She was holding the baby. Just the joy on her
face was just incredible," said Stone. "She said
‘This is worth it. ... I would do it all again to have
this child.'"