A local mother was diagnosed with cancer while pregnant. Here, read her family’s story and find out how those babies are doing.
Ashley Adams and her husband Andy have had their arms full for the last five months since Adams delivered quadruplets at a hospital in Colorado. Adams, a 2006 graduate of San Benito High School, known then as Ashley Knutson, carried the identical twins Braelynn and Samantha along with fraternal twins Rylie and Wyatt to 30 weeks.
When she was first admitted to the hospital around 21 weeks for closer monitoring of the pregnancy, Adams, 24, was surprised when doctors discovered she had thyroid cancer.
“It was very scary because I lost my father two years ago to cancer so I’m thinking we have four babies on the way and you are telling me Ashley has cancer on her lymph nodes,” said Connie Cooklin, Adams’ mother.
She underwent surgery to remove her lymph nodes and a tumor on her thyroid shortly after the babies were born, but she will also undergo radiation in February.
“I’m just going to try to get all of that over and done with now so we can just move on with our lives,” Adams said.
Adams said she wants other young women to learn from her story to be aware of the common form of cancer.
“I just want it to be known for people to get checked,” Adams said. “Right now it wouldn’t be a big deal, but 10 years down the road I would have been really sick and not known.”
The babies were born Aug. 26. All the babies initially stayed in the neonatal intensive care unit, with son Wyatt coming home when he was 7 weeks old. Sister Riley joined him three weeks later. The identical twin girls Braelynn and Samantha came home at about 14 weeks old.
“Getting to just hold all my babies and not having to see them in the hospital anymore – if I want to go pick up my baby I can do that,” said Adams, of the best thing about having all the babies home. “Or I can just lay with them on the bed – to have that time with them and just know that they are healthy. And I guess finally getting to be a full-time mom, not just being a NICU mom.”
Cooklin was visiting when the twin girls came home.
“It has been crazy to have all of them home,” Cooklin said. “It was just crazy trying to get the feeds and everyone acclimated to being home.”
During the complicated pregnancy, in which the identical twins shared the same amniotic sac and membrane, Adams was put on bed rest for eight weeks. Early on, doctors suggested the couple reduce the pregnancy, especially for the high-risk identical twins.
“For us, it didn’t feel right,” Adams said. “They were healthy – it’s not like they had health problems. They were telling us they were going to. At that point they were healthy, so why not give them a chance?”
Adams said she carried the babies a week longer than the average for quadruplets.
“We had ultrasounds several times a week, and in the hospital we had one once a day,” Adams said.
Hollister’s Cooklin and other relatives have taken turns visiting the couple to help them care for the babies. Adams’ husband, a native of Louisiana, is an army sergeant who has had to be away for training some of the time since the babies came home. He is scheduled to leave for training again around when Adams starts radiation treatment.
In addition to visiting her to help care for the babies, family members in Hollister are also planning a fundraiser to help the couple.
“I was breastfeeding all of them, but we found out they have a protein allergy,” Adams said. “We had to move to a special formula and it is $28 a can, and they can go through that in one day.”
The babies are five months old and they are on a high-calorie diet to increase their weight. She created a Facebook page, “Our Quad Life,” to share pictures and stories with family members who are out of state.
“We try to post lots of photos for our family and friends who are kind of all around the country,” Adams said. “We just update pictures so everyone can see the babies.”
Bake Sale Fundraiser
A local bake sale and raffle fundraiser will be held Feb. 8 and 9, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., in the Target parking lot, 1790 Airline Hwy. Donations can also be made at www.navyfederal.org or by calling 888-842-6328 to account No. 3034469290
