I left my gender reveal baby scan with a ‘silent-killer’ diagnosis --[Reported by Umva mag]

As expectant mum Janine Edgar stared at the sonographer’s monitor, she was excited to catch a glimpse of her unborn baby.

At 20 weeks pregnant, this would be the scan where she’d find out if she was having a son or daughter.

But what should have been a special moment for Janine, now 44, and her husband Chris, turned into a nightmare, after the scan revealed something far more sinister.

Doctors found a tumour, and she was eventually diagnosed with bladder cancer.

Janine, who lives in Hadleigh, Suffolk, went for the routine gender scan in 2006. She says: ‘Going in, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I’d felt sure from the start of my pregnancy that I was having a boy’. 

Janine’s inkling was right, and she was thrilled when she learnt she would soon become a boy mum.

But after her scan, Janine and Chris were ushered into a side room, where they were given shocking news. The scan had also revealed a growth in her bladder, right next to her baby’s head.

Janine recalled: ‘My initial thoughts were for the baby, but once they explained it wouldn’t affect him, I felt nervous about what was coming next for me.’

Still unsure exactly what the growth was, she remembers having ‘mixed feelings’, and despite everything, was overjoyed to be having a son. She says: ‘There was relief that the baby was healthy, and excitement that we were going to have a boy.’

But it was a month later, after undergoing a cystoscopy – a procedure that looks inside the bladder – that Janine would be diagnosed with bladder cancer. Alone at the time, she met her husband in the waiting room, and they ‘drove home in a bit of a fog’. 

Janine said: ‘It sends you into a state of shock whenever someone mentions cancer. You check out mentally and find yourself checking back and asking questions. Thankfully, my cousin, a urologist could answer a lot of my questions.’

But, she also admits she felt some ‘relief’ upon receiving her diagnosis. The now mum-of-two believes she’d actually been experiencing symptoms since she was a child, and thought: ‘Finally, there is an explanation.’

In fact, Janine first noticed blood in her urine – a common symptom of bladder cancer – at just 12 years old.

Originally from Zimbabwe, Janine said she spent frequent weekends waterskiing in her home country – where she explained there is a problem with a waterborne disease called ‘schistosomiasis’ (also known as bilharzia), caused by a parasitic worm that can enter the body, which can cause some cancers. She believed that this is why she experienced so many UTIs growing up.

She moved to the UK to study at university in 1999. Due to switching GPs over the years and moving around, her doctors were unable to recognise a pattern in her symptoms. 

As her early 20s progressed, her symptoms worsened, resulting in painful UTIs as often as every six to eight weeks.

Luckily, she had a strong support system, including Chris, who was her boyfriend at the time, and a group of ‘really good girlfriends’. They brainstormed countless ways to help her manage the pain, but nothing worked. 

Janine said: ‘The amount of water I drank was ridiculous. I cut out wheat. I cut out alcohol. You think, “It just doesn’t seem fair really”.’

But while Janine finally had some answers to her life-long health issues, she was about to embark on a daunting journey.

Janine explains: ‘In the final weeks leading up to giving birth I was having checks twice a week just to see how the baby was doing and if the growth was getting bigger.’

‘It was a balancing act between my health and his birth, so I accepted that he might come early. 

‘But, everyone I spoke to reassured me that they thought it was slow growing given I had had it for so long. So, there wasn’t talk of it being terminal.

‘By the time they decided to induce me, two weeks early, I was heavily pregnant and just excited to meet our little man. I didn’t feel fearful; I was over the moon, though quite exhausted after the long labour.‘

Thankfully, baby boy Jonty was born February 15, 2007, happy and healthy, but just two weeks later, Janine was back in hospital, where she underwent surgery to remove the ‘moderate grade two tumour’, followed by chemo-wash, a type of treatment that involves injecting chemotherapy into the bladder.

As new parents living two and a half hours away from the hospital, Janine said the treatment ‘felt like a monumental task’. 

She said: ‘We had to pack like we were moving house, especially since we didn’t know how long Chris and Jonty would need to stay. I was also breastfeeding Jonty at the time, but because of the general anaesthesia, I had to pause.

‘Thankfully, we had already started supplementing with formula, so we were prepared.’

Janine was discharged late the same day, with Jonty and Chris by her side throughout. However, at her six-month check-up, the doctors discovered another shadow. Janine said: ‘They had to go back in to check. Thankfully, there was no treatment.’

She added: ‘Now, that was frightening. That did make us consider if we had been naïve in our attitudes so far. But there was nothing there.’

Although she described it as a ‘challenging time’, Janine said she never felt like she missed out on anything as a new parent.

She said: ‘I adored Jonty from the moment he was born. I had no frame of reference for a “normal” experience, as Jonty was our first child, so we just got on with it.’

Janine said she felt just as exhausted as any other first-time mum. She said: ‘Those first few months are extremely exhausting. There’s nothing that can prepare you for the broken night’s sleep and the relentless routine of feeding and changing.

‘However, Chris was incredible. He was very hands-on and when I felt overwhelmed, especially with the news after my six-month check, he would take over.’

Janine was given the all-clear after a further six months and, upon receiving the news, felt ‘relieved’.

She explained: ‘Having suffered with recurrent UTIs for years, it was great to know that I wouldn’t be plagued by them again. Plus if they did come back, I knew I would have someone to talk to immediately. ‘

She added: ‘This journey has certainly shifted my perspective. I now trust my gut instinct more — if something feels off, I don’t hesitate to get more opinions. I’ve also learned that a cancer diagnosis doesn’t necessarily mean the end. It’s made me more determined to make the most of life, and going through this has definitely made me stronger.’

While Janine will have annual check-ups for the rest of her life, she said: ‘I’m grateful that I no longer suffer from UTIs and can focus fully on being a mum.’

One thing Janine wished she had known before her diagnosis, was that her symptoms were ‘not normal’. She said: ‘The doctors kept giving me antibiotics. They didn’t ask me any questions or questions about the fact that I had blood in my urine. The fact that I was bleeding was not normal.

‘It’s also seen as an older person’s disease which is maybe why they [the doctors] didn’t pick it up.’

Bladder cancer, often referred to as the ‘silent killer’ can develop without showing signs until it’s advanced and affects millions worldwide. Janine urges everyone to ‘look out for the warning signs.’

Had the cancer not been detected during the routine scan, she reflected, ‘it’s not worth thinking about’, what might have happened. 

Janine is currently training for London’s Royal Parks Half Marathon, presented by Royal Bank of Canada on October 13 – her fourth half marathon – in aid of Cancer Research.

Janine, who is now also mum to Eloise, 15, and Jonty, who is now 17, is a keen runner and set up the Hadleigh Jeffing Queens in February 2022, with her friend Julia, a women’s running club that supports women of all ages. With 50 members ranging in age from their early 30s to 70s, Janine credits the space, and running, as her ‘outlet when things get a bit crazy’. 

She is running the half marathon to raise awareness of bladder cancer, as well as in memory of her mum who she lost to cancer in 2009.

Janine’s mother had acute myeloid leukaemia – a cancer of the white blood cells that progressives quickly and aggressively. Janine says: ‘She was only 51 and my best friend, so this run is very close to my heart.’

To donate to Janine’s cause, visit: fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/janines-giving-page-2481.

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