ST. LOUIS, Missouri -- A mother of three had a difficult decision to make. Cara Combs was diagnosed with Stage IV melanoma while she was pregnant. She decided to go against her doctor's advice to have the baby -- a sacrifice that may have cost her life.
According to KTVI, Combs found out she was pregnant at 23 weeks. Her doctors advised her to have the baby immediately. She wanted to wait to give the baby a chance to survive. This meant giving up her cancer treatment.
This is Cara Combs Facebook status update from November 13th:
The family went to have their photos taken on December 4th. Emily Lucarz says this was good timing because Cara Combs went into labor the next day. The family's photographer writes:
Cara passed away early on December 8th. She did get to meet the baby. Her husband posted this update to their GoFundMe page.
Cancer may have had a role in her death. Combs needed a life-saving treatment after the Shay was born. She couldn't get a transplant because of her cancer diagnosis.
Emily Lucarz Photography posted these pictures to Facebook with this caption:
Over 200 people have donated to the Combs family GoFundMe page. They are still just short of their goal of $25,000.
The original goal of the fundraising effort:
You can donate here: https://www.gofundme.com/zxaxzq68