Watch above: Chantal, a local midwife who was diagnosed with a rare eye cancer while she was eight weeks pregnant, has had her baby.
EDMONTON — A well-known Edmonton midwife has given birth to a beautiful baby boy, just months after going through life-changing surgery in hopes of keeping a rare form of eye cancer from affecting him.
Chantal Gauthier-Vaillancourt was diagnosed with a malignant melanoma in her right eye when she was eight weeks pregnant.
At the time, there was a 25 per cent chance of it spreading to the placenta. But because her pregnancy was only eight weeks along, she chose not to have radiation or surgery to avoid any risk to the baby.
When her pregnancy reached 28 weeks, Gauthier-Vaillancourt was faced with another tough decision; while she knew the placenta was tumour-free, there was a 70 per cent chance she could pass on her cancer, so she decided to have her right eye removed.
READ MORE: Edmonton woman has life-changing surgery to protect unborn baby
On Tuesday, Gauthier-Vaillancourt gave birth to a baby boy named Luka. He was born at the Lucina Birth Centre, where Gauthier-Vaillancourt works. Both Luka and his mother are doing great.