MAZ Loder gave birth to her first child 14 weeks early, and lost her mother to breast cancer in the space of 15 hours.
Since that day of emotional extremes almost nine weeks ago, she has spent most of her time at the Royal Gwent Hospital while son Elisha - born weighing just 1lb 15oz - clings to life in the neo-natal unit.
But Mrs Loder, 35, from Cwmbran, where she runs her own hairdressing salon, is also grappling with her own health dilemma, one thrust into the spotlight last week by Hollywood star Angelina Jolie.
Her mum Elizabeth Moyle, 58, died following a 16-year battle with breast cancer, which claimed her life after spreading to her bones. In the interim she underwent two mastectomies and chemotherapy treatment.
And her daughter is now considered at high risk for breast cancer through her family history. Mrs Moyle was diagnosed aged 42, the same age her own mother, Mrs Loder’s grandmother, died of the disease.
That means Mrs Loder must havemammograms annually, a process that began last year, 16 years earlier than usual.
Her latestmammogram was scheduled last week, but must wait while she spends precious hours with Elisha, whose life has so far been spent in neo-natal intensive care and high dependency units.
“It’s an emotional rollercoaster and every day brings a different challenge,” said Mrs Loder, who shares cotside duties with husband Rob, a self-employed bricklayer.
“The staff are incredible.
Their dedication is amazing and they keep us up to date with everything that’s going on.
“The day before Elisha was born I’d been helping nurse my mum, and in the evening I went home because I’d started having pains.
“I thought I was just tired, but by the early hours of the next morning I had to go into hospital. He was born at 8.20am and my mum died at 11pm. She hadn’t been very responsive for a few days, but my dad and my brother are certain she knew I’d had the baby. She always wanted to be a nan”.
It was three weeks before Mrs Loder was able to hold her son. “He was so very small, I could sort of sit him in the palm of a hand and support him with my fingers, but it was amazing,” she said.
Almost nine weeks on, Elisha now weighs 2lb 9oz.
Not due until June 25, still more than a month away, his prematurity means he has to overcome daily obstacles to his wellbeing.
“He’s been stopping breathing most days, sometimes several times, and when he was born he had a hole in his heart 5.8 millimetres across,”
said Mrs Loder.
“For his size, that was massive and he might have had to go to Bristol for an operation.
Nobody wanted that, but as the weeks have gone on, the hole has got smaller. It’s two millimetres now, and they don’t have to operate.
“We just enjoy every day as best we can. They tell you to prepare yourself for the baby being in hospital at least until the original due date, but it could be longer.
“But there’s a large amount of praying going on for him, just as there was for my mum, and that is a great comfort and support.”
Support ‘has been overwhelming’ MRS Loder said the response to her mother’s cancer battle has been “overwhelming”
from staff and customers at her salon, Maz’s Hairloom in Pontnewydd, and other Cwmbran businesses involved in fundraising for research into the disease.
“People have prayed for me, for my mum, for Elisha, too, through Facebook – even people I don’t even know. It’s amazing how a community can come together in such circumstances,” she said.
“Sara Thomas, a senior stylist at the salon, who has beautiful hair, is having her head shaved for charity. She has a friend who is having chemotherapy, and she was close to my mum.
“That’s on Friday, at the salon. She has a page on Facebook, and Pontnewydd Fish Shop is also putting in a donation box for Sara’s effort.
“Claire Hester, another of my senior stylists, has never run before, but has joined a gym to train for a 10K Race For Life.
“We’ve had so many collections donated to my mum’s chosen charities, Two Locks Church in Cwmbran (which Mr and Mrs Loder also attend), and the Macmillan Renton Unit at Hereford, where she was treated and cared for.”
PANEL Genetic test is an option AS well as having a mammogram every year, Mrs Loder also has the option of having a genetic test to determine if she carries the BCA1 or BCA2 genes that are an indicator of breast cancer likelihood.
Film star Angelina Jolie announced last week that she had a double mastectomy after discovering she was at high risk of breast cancer following such a test.
“She was carrying the BCA1 gene and I was offered a test, but I didn’t want it, for a number of reasons,” said Mrs Loder.
“I didn’t want my mum thinking she had passed it on, and I am also on a maximum scanning programme.
“Depending on the result, I would also be faced with decisions about surgery. But a test is still an option if I want it.”
“I watched my mum fight breast cancer, then the bone cancer, with the operations and the chemotherapy. She was an amazing woman and an inspiration to many people – always happy, never complaining.
“When she was first diagnosed, I was in my late teens and I didn’t cope with it very well.
“I was advised to check out the genetic side then, given the family history, but did nothing about it.
“The second time she got it, 12 years later, I went for genetic counselling.”
