Meya Fowler was delighted when she finally fell pregnant after years of dreaming of a family and a traumatic miscarriage, but her worst fears came true when her baby was diagnosed with a tumor at her 20-week scan.
The tumor soon grew to 1.5 kg and left the girl with less than a 20 percent chance of survival due to its enormous size, but Meya refused to terminate the pregnancy and give up her daughter.
Meya, 36, met her husband, Callan, online and the pair immediately clicked and fell in love.
They married 18 months after their first date and began trying to have a baby as soon as possible.
“I have a big family and I was close with all my cousins growing up,” Meya told FEMAIL. ‘I wanted the same for my children. Unfortunately I lost my first baby, but the second time I felt something different.’
Meya Fowler’s baby was diagnosed with a teratoma tumor at her 20-week scan
As Meya’s baby grew, so did the tumor, which could have overloaded her organs and caused heart failure.
‘I would talk to my daughter inside my womb and tell her how much we love her. We started planning nursery and making lists of baby names, imagining how much our lives would improve in just a few months.’
While all of Meya’s initial scans and blood tests came back without a problem, a huge weight settled on her five months later.
“Our whole life collapsed at the 20-week scan,” Meya recalled. “I was so anxious about what had happened the last time I was pregnant that I couldn’t imagine anything going wrong again.
‘My first sign that something was wrong was when the doctor doing the ultrasound went silent. The blood drained from his face and a sad look appeared in his eyes.
Meya revealed that the doctor discovered a teratoma tumor in her son’s tailbone.
Teratomas are made up of tissues such as hair, muscle and bone and often form in the ovaries of women.
As Meya’s baby grew, so did the tumor, and it could have overloaded her organs and caused heart failure.
‘The obstetrician told us that her survival rate had dropped to 20 per cent and that our baby would most likely die.
“It was too much to bear mentally and emotionally. They gave us the option to terminate the contract or continue knowing the risk that our daughter would not make it.”
Even though the odds were against them, Meya and Callan never considered terminating the pregnancy.
Even though the odds were against them, Meya and Callan never considered terminating the pregnancy.
“We both really wanted this baby and wanted to give it a chance to live,” she said. “We wanted her to fight for it.”
At that time, medical professionals deduced that the tumor was 4 cm and slow growing, which had not yet impacted the baby’s development.
Dealing with their baby’s cancer was the first time either of them had a brush with the disease.
‘Everyone always says this, but cancer is something that happens to other people. Not you.’
Meya shared that the news made her feel “exhausted” and “weak,” and that knowing that everything she could do still might not be enough was exhausting.
The mother-to-be was overwhelmingly emotional and often cried over the unfair situation her family had been put in.
Dealing with their baby’s cancer was the first time either of them had a brush with the disease.
At 32 weeks, the tumor suddenly ballooned and Meya and Callan were warned about the high level of risk to both mother and baby.
The couple moved from Bendigo to Ronald McDonald House in Melbourne to be closer to the Royal Women’s Hospital.
At 36 weeks, the tumor had grown to 18 cm and weighed 1.5 kg.
Meya was scheduled for an elective C-section at 38 weeks, but delivered prematurely two weeks early due to the tumor.
Once she gave birth, the baby was immediately rushed to an operating room for a gruesome six-hour surgery to remove the teratoma.
‘I hadn’t even hugged her yet. The tumor was connected to many blood vessels, so it was possible that one would rupture and cause her to bleed out,” Meya said. “She was terrified. She couldn’t concentrate on anything else.
‘I kept wondering: will he make it? Will the surgery go well? What if something happens? What if you can’t handle recovery? What happens if I never get to hug her or talk to her?
Once she gave birth, the baby was immediately rushed to an operating room for a gruesome six-hour surgery to remove the teratoma.
But surgeons were able to successfully remove the tumor and Oliviae was soon hooked up to machines to help her breathe and heal.
Callan and Meya didn’t stop holding their breath until she received the go-ahead, and the couple couldn’t believe the “miracle” she had granted them.
The baby’s tests came back negative for cancer, but that’s not the end of his health journey.
Oliviae still has to return to hospital every three months for scans to make sure the cancer has not returned.
She is expected to have some delays in growth and development due to the anesthesia used during the surgery, but Meya and Callan will be there to guide her through the challenges.
“Now I see her crawling around our house and it makes me very happy,” Meya said. ‘She is alive! She is fine! Everything is perfect.’
Oliviae celebrated her first birthday at the end of January 2024 and continues to thrive.