'The babies are going to make it': Mom of twins delivers early following cancer diagnosis
A tough setback for a North Carolina mom of newborn twins has turned into a miracle.
"It's a blessing, it is amazing," said Ebony Ingram.
Ingram found out she had leukemia on Jan. 14, while she was 27 weeks pregnant. She was immediately admitted to Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center the next day.
"I'm thankful for God allowing us to still be here today so I can be able to tell my story and still be able to go on with my journey," said Ingram.
Her medical team made the call to deliver her twins early so that she could start her cancer treatments.
"Not only are we treating the patient, but we also have two other patients in this case that need just as close care and monitoring, which is certainly outside the scope of my normal practice. When I heard about ebony, I made a few phone calls to basically every doctor I know at Novant Health and said 'we're going to need help,'" said Dr. James Dugan, clinical lead for stem cell therapy at Novant Health.
While most of her medical journey has been a blur since delivering her twins nearly 15 weeks early, Ingram says every day is a blessing.
"Some days, it gets the best of me and I think, 'Oh my God, I can't make it,' but then I have my support team that supports me a lot and I just want to make it," said Ingram.
This Mother's Day is special, she said, thanks to the support of her doctors, nurses and family. They gave her strength to fight for health, not only for herself, but for the newest additions to her family.
"They told me don't give up, it's going to be alright, and you're going to make it. The babies are going to make it. And then I had all these different nurses praying for us, and I was just so happy," Ingram said.
Ingram is expected to make a full recovery from cancer with a few months left in her treatments.
"Everything that I experienced through this whole journey of being hospitalized just feels like a blessing because I wasn't expecting to make it, and I wasn't expecting my twins to make it at all," said Ingram.
Her babies are home from the neonatal intensive care unit, as well.
