Royal Oak mom credits daughter to helping spot breast cancer
(CBS DETROIT) - "She would never latch. And I just thought, you know, first time mom, the struggles of getting a baby to learn how to feed," said Ellen Rabideau following the birth of her newborn daughter, Tatum.
As Breast Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close, the Royal Oak mother reflects on the discovery of her diagnosis.
Thinking the feeding may have just been a small issue, it was Tatum who helped get her mother to the doctors who, after testing, diagnosed her with stage three inflammatory breast cancer.
Her initial thoughts were what you may expect, fear and uncertainty. Rabideau credits her family support system in those times of need.
"I was really, really lucky. But it was terrifying to have to give up some of that control as a first time mom and let other people really be the primary caregivers for my daughter," Rabideau said.
Rabideau lost two of her maternal aunts to breast cancer and her mother had preventative surgery at age 45. Breast surgeon Dr. Nayana Dekhne, aware of her family history, had worked with one of the aunt's Rabideau lost to the disease. She took Rabideau in for testing hoping to just find an infection.
"Knowing that family history, when I got that call saying, you know, this is rare, we've been treating it with antibiotics, you know how you get that bad feeling? I got her in immediately," Dr. Dekhne said.
The mutation Rabideau had is the same her aunts were diagnosed with. Through treatment, Rabideau is now in remission. She takes medication specific to the type of cancer she beat to decrease the risk of reoccurrence.
"If in doubt, discuss with your regular medical doctor whether you meet medical criteria to get genetic testing done," Dr. Dekhne says while sharing the importance of knowing your families medical history.
Echoing Dr. Dekhne's sentiment, Rabideau also shared that Tatum was delivered three weeks early, which for their family, ended up being a blessing in disguise.
"I really think that she knew something was going on and so she was kind of the reason that we were able to find the diagnosis when we did and she ended up saving my life," Rabideau said.