Kathleen Osborne, 28, had no idea she was pregnant when she went for an MRI scan diagnosing cancer for the third time.

When doctors found that she was also pregnant Kathleen had to make a choice between aborting her baby so she could start chemotherapy or have her leg amputated.

Kathleen took one night to make her life-changing decision and she had her entire right leg amputated at four months pregnant, eradicating the cancer.

But sadly, she still had to give birth to daughter Aida-May eight weeks early after an MRI scan revealed cancer on her lungs had returned – and this time it was inoperable and terminal.

The brave mum chose to amputate a leg
Kathleen took one night to make her life-changing decision

She said: “They only gave me two days to prepare for giving birth to her – I thought I had eight weeks and then suddenly I only had two days which was scary!

“I was scared I was going to lose her because I was having her so early. I was worrying about how well she’d be and how big she’d be.

“Those two days were awful. All these things were running through my head about her and then about me being diagnosed with cancer for the fourth time as well.”

Kathleen, from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, was first diagnosed with cancer when she was just 11, after a painful lump on her right leg turned out to be osteosarcoma in 2005.

She had chemotherapy for the bone cancer and had most of her kneecap removed as well as two metal rods inserted into her leg.

Kathleen was clear of cancer for 11 years and welcomed two sons, Hayden, now nine, and Leo, now five, before she discovered that the cancer had returned in 2016, this time on her lungs.

The 28-year-old with her three children

Aida-May was born eight weeks early

She said: “About three or four months after I had my second son [Leo], I had pain all down my side and I couldn’t move, I was bent over in pain.

“I had a scan after the doctors found fluid on my lungs and that’s where they saw this big mass on my lung which they couldn’t biopsy as it was touching vital organs.

“It turned out the cancer was back, and within a week, I was back in hospital for chemo.

“Childhood cancer usually comes back within two or three years, but mine came back after 11. It was really rare, it’s not often they see that so they had to act quickly.”

Thankfully, the chemotherapy managed to shrink the cancer on Kathleen’s lung considerably and doctors only had to remove the lower lobe of her lung.

She was given the all clear in March 2017 but just three and a half years later, another painful lump on the top of her right leg appeared that left her almost unable to walk.

Kathleen was first diagnosed wth cancer at the age of 11

The young mum didn't know she was pregnant a third time

The young mum didn’t know she was pregnant a third time 

Image:

Kathleen Osborne / SWNS)

An MRI scan revealed it was cancer again but also showed a mysterious mass in her pelvis area, leading doctors to give Kathleen a pregnancy test that turned out to be positive.

Kathleen said: “That’s how I found out I was pregnant – I had no idea!

“It was really scary because then I immediately thought I was going to lose my baby. I’d only just found out about her and then I thought I was going to lose her.

“The doctors gave me two choices. They said I could either terminate my baby, have chemotherapy, have an operation and most likely lose my leg, or keep my baby and have my leg amputated straight away.

“They gave me a week to make the decision and told me the sooner I had the surgery, the better.”

“Ten days after making the difficult decision, Kathleen underwent surgery on November 17 to have her entire right leg amputated from her pelvis downwards.

Kathleen had her leg amputated 10 days after making the decision

The 28-year-old wants to create memories for her children

She spent the first eight days after her amputation unable to look down at her remaining leg as she struggled to comprehend what had happened.

She said: “It was really hard. Towards the end of the eight days, I did glance down but it was really weird looking at the blanket on top of me.

“I could see one heap where my leg was and then nothing next to it. I really struggled to look down at it, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

“I had to tell my boys before the surgery that my leg was being amputated, but I did it in a fun way to keep them from being scared or worried.

“They love Transformers so I said I had something bad in my leg and that the doctors needed to take it away but that Transformers were going to make me a new leg.

“They were like ‘really?! That’s really cool!’ and then they loved it! It was the only way I could think of how to tell them so I’ve just kept that story going.”

The amputation eradicated the cancer and Kathleen spent the rest of her pregnancy adjusting to life with one leg, using crutches the entire time after refusing a wheelchair.

Following her terminal diagnosis Kathleen is now doing all she can to make memories with her three kids whilst undergoing chemotherapy to give her more time with them.

Kathleen said: “We’ve got a little holiday booked for next month and I’ve made a Crowdfunding page to try and raise money so I can make as many memories with the kids as possible.

“That’s my only focus now – making memories with my children. I don’t know how long I have left, it could be years, it could be just months.

“I just want to do as many things as they want to do. They really want to go to Disneyland which we can’t do yet due to Covid-19 but hopefully we can in the future.

“My focus is just doing as much with my kids as possible. It’s just them, I don’t really care about my dreams any more.

“As long as they have memories with me and they have as much fun with me as possible over however long we’ve got, then I’m happy.

The family want to go to Disneyland

“I can go then, as long as they’re happy.”

The mum-of-three said she has no regrets over her decision to amputate her leg as it meant Aida-May was born.

“I’m happy I made the decision to lose my leg because it gave me my daughter,” she said