An Illinois mother suffering from an extreme cough made a life-changing discovery weeks before giving birth.
MaKenna Lauterbach, then 26 years old, was pregnant with her son when she began experiencing a persistent cough during her last trimester in December 2023.
The new mother, who lives on a farm in Washburn, Illinois, complained about the problem several times to her local doctors, but because of her pregnancy, they were reluctant to perform chest scans.
“I feed the horses hay every morning and noticed how breathless I was with a dry cough,” he said.
‘My body felt like I had run two miles, when in reality I had only walked to the barn and back. I knew something was wrong.’
By the time she reached 36 weeks of pregnancy, her cough had worsened and she was vomiting frequently.
She was eventually hospitalized and doctors began performing scans, which showed she had a large tumor, the size of a grapefruit, in her mid-thoracic cavity and right lung.
The tumor had completely blocked the artery in her right lung and Lauterbach was found to be in respiratory distress, indicating that she and the baby were not receiving adequate oxygen.
MaKenna Lauterbach was pregnant with her son at the age of 26 when she began experiencing a persistent cough during her last trimester in December 2023.
Due to her unique but critical condition, she was flown to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and rushed to an ICU where several obstetricians, surgeons, anesthesiologists, pediatricians, nurses and staff monitored her case.
Doctors soon noticed that the young mother’s blood pressure was rising and began to contract, to which the baby did not respond well.
Dr. Lynn Yee, MD, maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Northwestern Medicine explained: ‘MaKenna was in real trouble and we had to act quickly; this wasn’t something that could wait until Monday morning.
‘When you are pregnant with a baby that is almost full term, your lungs are no longer functioning at full capacity, and when you add a huge tumor on top of that, you run the risk of respiratory collapse and cardiac arrest. ‘
«It is extremely rare to see this type of tumor invading the main blood vessels of the heart. We may see something like this once every few years,” cardiac surgeon Dr. Chris Mehta also said.
On March 31, Lauterbach underwent an emergency cesarean section and her son, Colter, was born.
‘Due to the tumor, the birth occurred very quickly. I was mourning the birth plan I had spent months preparing for, while also dealing with the news of my unexpected diagnosis.
‘My situation was serious and, as my clinical team worked on a plan to treat my cancer, it was comforting to know that Mary and the rest of the NICU nurses were taking such wonderful care of our son. “My husband (Parker) and I can’t thank you enough,” the mother said.
She was eventually hospitalized and doctors began performing scans, which showed she had a large tumor, the size of a grapefruit, in her mid-thoracic cavity and right lung.
The tumor had completely blocked the artery in her right lung and Lauterbach was found to be in respiratory distress, indicating that both she and the baby were not receiving adequate oxygen.
On March 31, Lauterbach underwent an emergency cesarean section and her son, whom she named Colter, was born.
After her C-section, Kalvin Lung MD, a thoracic surgeon at Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute, obtained a sample of the tumor with advanced bronchoscopy.
She discovered the tumor was stage 3 melanoma and enlisted the help of Sunandana Chandra, MD, a medical oncologist, to find a way to shrink the tumor.
‘The tumor was located above MaKenna’s heart and extended to the right lung, impacting all three lobes and the entire main trunk of the pulmonary artery.
“MaKenna’s diagnosis was difficult to make because we weren’t sure if the melanoma started in the chest or somewhere else, and there isn’t much literature or published cases on how to best treat tumors like these, so we had to rely on experience that we have developed here at Northwestern Medicine,” he said.
Lauterbach was then recommended to undergo three cycles of immunotherapy before undergoing surgery.
Pre-surgical immunotherapy helped reduce the size of the tumor from 13 centimeters to nine centimeters.
During surgery, Lung and Mehta managed to remove Lauterbach’s entire right lung, parts of the main pulmonary artery and lymph nodes to save his life.
“We believe that at some point MaKenna had melanoma on her skin and her own immune system took care of it, but not before a cell or two escaped and eventually started growing inside her body.
After her C-section, Kalvin Lung MD, a thoracic surgeon at Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute, obtained a sample of the tumor with advanced bronchoscopy. He discovered that the tumor was stage 3 melanoma.
During surgery, Lung and Mehta managed to remove Lauterbach’s entire right lung, parts of the main pulmonary artery and lymph nodes to save his life.
Lauterbach will continue immunotherapy treatments for a year as his cancer remains stable and he celebrated his son’s first Christmas this year.
‘After three doses of immunotherapy, once she was taken to surgery, the surgical specimen showed no melanoma cells that were viable.
‘MaKenna’s scans currently show no evidence of metastatic melanoma, and the hope is that, with continued surveillance, we will continue to show that he has no evidence of disease. Medically, this is an amazing story with profound results. This type of outcome for our patients is what we always hope for,” Chandra explained.
Lauterbach will continue immunotherapy treatments for a year as his cancer remains stable.
This year he celebrated his son’s first Christmas.
“Colter is the best baby,” he said.
‘He is always happy and sleeps through the night. I am so grateful to have Colter and Parker in my life and I can’t say enough about the wonderful medical team that saved my life. Thanks to Northwestern Medicine, I am here today.’