A new mother underwent a grueling 12-hour surgery eight hours after giving birth to remove a football-sized tumor from her jaw.
Mollie Jane Dougherty, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, discovered she was pregnant in December 2022 and she and her partner Tom, 33, were both 'over the moon'.
The 23-year-old developed severe jaw pain a few months later, which she initially attributed to troublesome wisdom teeth and dentists dismissed as an abscess.
However, the pain became so bad that she was rushed to A&E and saw a specialist, who eventually diagnosed her with a rare form of bone cancer at 37 weeks pregnant.
Mrs Dougherty, who had her own cleaning business before her diagnosis, underwent surgery to cut out the tumor shortly after the birth of her son Tommy, temporarily removing her ear and jaw.
Mollie Jane Dougherty, 23, was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer when she was 37 weeks pregnant and after months of jaw pain
Although Mrs Dougherty has now recovered after further treatment, she said it was 'difficult' balancing her treatment with her newborn baby and her diagnosis was 'still not really sinking in'.
Ms Dougherty began feeling severe pain in her jaw while on holiday in Antalya, Turkey, in March 2023.
Although the pain, which she assumed was caused by a wisdom tooth, subsided, it soon returned in June but was subsequently dismissed by dentists as an abscess.
But on the day of Ms. Dougherty's baby shower on July 1, the pain was so unbearable that she was rushed to the emergency room.
She was given an x-ray, but the results seemed clear and was sent home with antibiotics.
When the pain persisted a week later, she was referred to an oral specialist and had an oral biopsy.
Her results came back on August 4 and revealed she had stage two osteosarcoma – a rare form of bone cancer.
On the day of Ms Dougherty's (pictured) baby shower on July 1, the pain was so unbearable that she was rushed to A&E where she was given an X-ray.
Ms Dougherty was diagnosed with stage two osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. Doctors said her tumor was the size of a 'football'
Pain and swelling around the affected bone are telltale signs of the disease, with 160 people in Britain and 1,000 in the US diagnosed each year.
It starts in cells that form bones, called osteoblasts. The cancer can develop in any bone, but usually starts at the end of long bones where new bone tissue forms as a young person grows, such as knee and shoulder joints, according to the NHS.
A combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy is usually used to treat the disease.
However, doctors said they could not treat the cancer until Mrs Dougherty gave birth because she was concerned it would harm the baby.
'When I first started having pain in my jaw, I initially thought it was a wisdom tooth. It was painful, but I just got on with it,” Ms. Dougherty said.
'But as the pain got worse and worse, I knew something was wrong.
'When I found out it was cancer it was heartbreaking, but at the same time I just had to do it.
'My focus the entire time was just on making sure my baby was okay, everything else came second.'
On August 7, 2023, Mrs Dougherty gave birth to her son Tommy at Barnsley Hospital, South Yorkshire, weighing 3.5kg.
On August 7, just days after her diagnosis, Mrs Dougherty gave birth to her son Tommy at Barnsley Hospital, South Yorkshire, weighing 3.5kg.
She only had eight precious hours with him before she was taken for further cancer scans while her partner Tom cared for the baby.
“It was so hard to give birth to Tommy and then have to say goodbye to him right away,” Mrs. Dougherty said.
“But I barely had time to think, I just packed my bags and went.”
After an initial screening, she had three days at home with Tommy before a consultation with her surgeon in Sheffield, with surgery scheduled for September 5.
Mrs Dougherty had a tracheotomy – a procedure to allow air and oxygen to reach the lungs by creating an opening in the windpipe from outside the neck – which had to remain in place for two weeks, meaning she could not speak for the entire time.
She had a tracheotomy – a procedure to allow air and oxygen to reach the lungs by creating an opening in the trachea from outside the neck
During the grueling 12-hour operation, surgeons removed her jaw and temporarily cut her ear so they could reach the bone to remove a tumor.
Doctors said the mass was “the size of a football”, Ms Dougherty said.
The surgery was a success, with most of the cancer removed. However, a small proportion had to be left behind and treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
On September 15, she was finally reunited with Tommy at the hospital – who came to visit – and on September 21 she was fully discharged.
She has since undergone two rounds of chemotherapy.
However, when she was due to have her second on November 29, she developed sepsis – a serious infection where the immune system starts attacking the body.
“It was just my luck,” she said.
The sepsis quickly resolved and on November 30 she received her second round of chemotherapy.
She was eventually reunited with Tommy in hospital – who had been visited by her husband Tom (pictured) – and was fully discharged on September 21.
Mrs Dougherty said her husband Tom has been 'amazing' in caring for baby Tommy and thanked her 'supportive' family
'The prognosis looks good, even though the tumor was the size of a football.'
Mrs. Dougherty will soon undergo one round of radiation, which doctors hope will put her into full remission.
She said: 'It's been hard leaving my baby, but my family have been so supportive, my mum, Amanda, 54, has come with me to my appointments, and Tom has looked after Tommy wonderfully, but it's also very been difficult for him.
“It's been tough but I just had to get on with it, there's nothing I can do about it so I just have to keep going.
Ms Dougherty said she has 'barely had time to think about it' and that her diagnosis has 'still not really sunk in'.
“Tommy is doing great, it's been really hard for Tom but he's been busy with the baby which has been a good distraction,” she said.
“Everyone has said they can't believe how happy I've been through it.”