We have yet another hero to add to our list today, after hearing the incredible story of US mum Kayla Gaytan.
Kayla, 29, gave birth to quadruplets on December 30, in her native Tennessee; but the fact that these babies were all conceived naturally is not the most incredible part of this story. Kayla is actually battling cancer right now.
Kaya was initially diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma last January, and after five months of chemotherapy treatment, she learned she was in remission.
It was then that Kayla and her husband, Charles, received the amazing news that they were expecting.
With no added fertility help, the couple – already parents to two children – found out they were expecting quadruplets.
While Kayla’s pregnancy went well, she started to notice cancer symptoms last month. After going to her doctor, the mum was heartbroken to learn that the cancer had returned.
Medics made the decision to bring the quads into the world as soon as possible, and babies Lillian, Victoria, Michael and Charles were born last week, at 30 weeks’ gestation.
The tots – whose weights ranged from just 2lbs 8oz to 3lbs 2oz – are currently being treated in the NICU of Vanderbilt University Medical Centre.
Kayla, meanwhile, is set to begin a 16-month course of chemotherapy. She has been given a 50 percent chance of survival over the next five years.
A tearful Charles Sr. told local news site WKRN.com: “She’d worked really hard to [beat] it the first time, and to come back and have to go through it all again, it breaks my heart.”
Kayla, meanwhile, is holding out hope of making a full recovery: “We know that He’s [God] got to have a different plan up there for us, and surely everything’s going to work out in the end.”
