Australian Doctor Dies After Refusing Cancer Treatment in Order to Save Her Unborn Child

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/sep/07091405.html ^ | September 14, 2007 | Hilary White

[monomaniac]

Australian Doctor Dies After Refusing Cancer Treatment in Order to Save Her Unborn Child

Refused high-level chemotherapy that might have saved her from Hodgkin's lymphoma

By Hilary White

MELBOURNE, September 14, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Another woman has saved her unborn child's life at the expense of her own. In a case similar in many ways to that of Gianna Beretta Molla, the Italian doctor recently canonized by the Vatican for a similar act of self-sacrifice, an Australian GP, Dr. Ellice Hammond, 37, refused high-level chemotherapy that might have saved her from Hodgkin's lymphoma. The treatment would have endangered the life of her unborn daughter, Mia Ellice.

After two initial rounds of mild chemotherapy failed, Mia Ellice, then 31 weeks old, was born after an inducement. She is developing well at the Monash Medical Centre neonatal intensive care unit, the Herald Sun reported today.

Dr. Hammonds husband, Peter Wojcik told the Herald Sun he was proud of his wife's devotion to their child. "It feels like I got robbed of a wife and a mother."

"I guess she didn't expect it to go this way, and if she did she wasn't telling us. But she would just want what is best for Mia and for everyone to love her and carry on with life.

"Her whole life was looking forward to being a mum. She loved it."

Mia Ellice is reported to be doing well and her father hopes to take her home within a few weeks.

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Pope Canonizes Gianna Molla; Secular Media at a Loss
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/may/04051708.html

Daughter of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla Attends US March for Life
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jan/05012701.html

[icwhatudo]

God bless her and her child.

[WorkingClassFilth]

What a woman. What a human being.

[GravityFree]

It's so VERY refreshing to see stories like this on Free Republic every now and then.

I'm sure this little girl has a constant unseen companion.

[Sender]

While I would never force this act of self-sacrifice on any mother, what a blessing she has given.

[elkfersupper]

Biblically, the first duty is to the husband.

I hope that was attended to in the process.

[CurlyBill]

WOW!!

[kcvl]

She is developing well, and Mr Wojcik hopes to take her home in the next fortnight.

"I think she'll be a little spoilt wild one, but I'll love her to bits," he said.

"The day that Ellice passed away I brought the grandparents in, and we had a little private room, and we sat for a couple of hours with Mia. And I think it was good healing.

"She was a little happiness at the end of a hellish day.

"She shows no signs of any problems and her blood vessels are good. She is gaining weight and eating well.

"I don't know how much of her (Ellice) will be shown in little Mia, but it will be interesting to find out over the years," Mr Wojcik said.

"Ellice was an angel. She had a great sense of humour, and made people laugh because she liked to clown around a lot.

"A lot of her patients loved her because she'd take the time to talk to them.

"She was a good counsellor to a lot of people."

Dr Hammond will be farewelled in Malvern East today.

[pandoraou812]

Prayers for the mother, baby, & father.

[Just Lori]

This story shows the depth of a mother’s love. She knew what her choices were, and she chose her child over herself. God Bless them both, and dad, too.

[steel_resolve]

God Bless.

[LisaAnne]

Biblically, the first duty is to the husband.

What does that mean?

[skr]

She and her husband fulfilled God’s command, to be fruitful and multiply. Because of the wife’s sacrifice, the husband now has the next generation to raise.

[Iwo Jima]

A mother’s love for her child is stronger than almost any force known to man.

[epow]

God bless her and her child.

AMEN to that!

It's sickening for me to think that while this courageous mother was sacrificing her own life to save the life of her precious unborn child, thousands of uncaring American women were hiring paid killers to murder their own unborn children just for their convenience.

Do not be deceived, whatsoever a man (or nation) sows so shall he (or it) reap.

A day of reckoning is coming for America, and for every other nation which allows it's unborn children to be legally slaughtered in their mothers' womb.

[syriacus]

What a brave and beautiful woman! The baby is beautiful, too.

[elkfersupper]

What does that mean?

It means that the husband comes before the children.

[LisaAnne]

So your point is what?