After nearly giving up on love, Dina Huxley’s life was falling into place.
She found her soulmate, Iain, in 2018, through a dating app. They married a year later, and welcomed a baby boy in June.
It was a storybook ending which crumbled just two weeks after the birth of their son.
Iain, 46, was diagnosed with cancer” target=”_blank”>Stage 4 pancreatic cancer<
Instead of enjoying her new life as a mom, she began searching for treatments to help Iain, who has been in and out of the hospital with infections that delayed his chemotherapy.
“It’s like we hit a tree and ended up upside down,” she said.
Help for the Huxleys came from unexpected places, including strangers willing to donate breast milk, old flames with medical guidance and government officials halfway across the globe.
Pancreatic cancer,a> which took the life of Jeopardy host Alex Trebek, is now the third leading cause of death from cancer in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society.<at age 12. Her husband was raised in England and Australia and came to the U.S. while in college.
They married in 2019, and rode out the pandemic together in their one-bedroomnew-york-city” target=”_blank”> Brooklyn<
By the time Ethan was born on June 6, Iain’s pain was excruciating.
“He just demanded a CT scan,” she said.
After the test revealed the cancer, the couple scrambled to find the right doctors. Dina even “‘shamelessly” texted a former date who is an MD to ask for help — which the doctor provided, securing a quick consultation with a specialist.
The new mom had hoped to breastfeed her newborn, but caring for Iain amid the devastating diagnosis made it almost impossible.
Desperate, she put out a plea last month for donated breast milk in a Facebook group for moms, saying her husband was just diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and “due to the heavy stresses and for various other reasons I had to abandon breastfeeding.”
“We’re still very keen to feed our son breast milk for all the health benefits,” she wrote.
Hundreds stepped up, offering their milk, or messages of support.
“Oh my gosh. It was overwhelming. So many moms reached out,” she said.
But Huxley said her pediatrician advised that the donated milk might be a health risk. So Huxley declined the help, and ultimately switched to formula.
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She’s relied on her mom, and a baby nurse who has stayed on long after her initial stint was supposed to end, to help care for Ethan. Iain’s parents wanted to help, but were stuck in Australia’s lockdown until a member of Parliament intervened and they will finally arrive next week.
Huxley said she is looking forward to having the extra help to spend more time with Ethan, who may never get to know his father.
“I have no words to describe the heartache,” she said.
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