An Illinois mother suffering from an extreme cough made a life-changing discovery weeks before she was due to give birth.
MaKenna Lauterbach, then 26, was pregnant with her son when she began experiencing nagging coughing during her last trimester in December 2023.
The first-time mother, who lives on a farm in Washburn, Ill, complained about the issue multiple times to her local doctors but due to her pregnancy, they were reluctant to perform chest scans.
‘I give hay to the horses every morning and noticed how winded I was becoming with a dry cough,’ she said.
‘My body felt like I just ran two miles, when in reality, I had only walked to the barn and back. I knew something was wrong.’
By the time she reached 36 weeks pregnant, the coughing had worsened and she was frequently vomiting.
She was eventually hospitalized and doctors began performing scans – which showed that she had a large, grapefruit-sized tumor in her middle chest cavity and right lung.
The tumor had completely blocked the artery to the right lung and Lauterbach was found to be in respiratory distress, indicating that both her and the baby were not receiving adequete oxygen.
MaKenna Lauterbach was pregnant with her son at the age of 26 when she began experiencing nagging coughing during her last trimester in December 2023
Due to her unique yet critical condition, she was flown to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and rushed to an ICU where multiple obstetricians, surgeons, anesthesiologists, pediatricians, nurses and staff oversaw her case.
Doctors soon noticed that the young mother’s blood pressure was rising and she began contracting, which the baby was not responding well to.
Dr Lynn Yee, MD, maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Northwestern Medicine explained: ‘MaKenna was in real trouble, and we had to act quickly – this wasn’t something that could wait for Monday morning.
‘When you’re pregnant with a baby that’s nearly full-term, your lungs already aren’t functioning at full capacity, and when you add a huge tumor on top of it, you run the risk of having respiratory collapse and cardiac arrest.’
‘It’s extremely rare to see this type of tumor invading into the major blood vessels of the heart. We may see something like this once every few years,’ cardiac surgeon Chris Mehta, MD also said.
On March 31, Lauterbach went through emergency cesarean section and her son, Colter, was was born.
‘Because of the tumor, the delivery happened so quickly. I was grieving the birth plan I had spent months preparing for, while also dealing with the news of my unexpected diagnosis.
‘My situation was serious, and while my clinical team was working on a plan to treat my cancer, it was comforting to know that Mary and the rest of the NICU nurses were taking such wonderful care of our son. My husband (Parker) and I can’t thank them enough,’ the mother said.
She was eventually hospitalized and doctors began performing scans – which showed that she had a large, grapefruit-sized tumor in her middle chest cavity and right lung
The tumor had completely blocked the artery to the right lung and Lauterbach was found to be in respiratory distress, indicating that both her and the baby were not receiving adequete oxygen
On March 31, Lauterbach went through emergency cesarean section and her son was was born whom she named Colter.
After her C-section, Kalvin Lung MD, a thoracic surgeon with the Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute, obtained a sample of the tumor with advanced bronchoscopy.
He discovered that the tumor was of stage 3 melanoma and enlisted the help of Sunandana Chandra, MD, medical oncologist to figure out a way to reduce the tumor.
‘The tumor was sitting on top of MaKenna’s heart and extended into the right lung, impacting all three lobes and the entire main trunk of the pulmonary artery.
‘MaKenna’s diagnosis was difficult to make because we weren’t sure if the melanoma started in the chest or somewhere else, and there isn’t much literature or published cases on how to best treat tumors like these, so we had to rely on the expertise that we’ve developed here at Northwestern Medicine,’ he said.
Lauterbach was then recommended to undergo three cycles of immunotherapy before she was put under for surgery.
The pre-surgical immunotherapy helped redcue the size of the tumor from 13 centimeters to nine centimeters.
During surgery, Lung and Mehta managed to remove Lauterbach’s entire right lung, parts of the main pulmonary artery and lymph nodes to save her life.
‘We think at some point, MaKenna had a melanoma on her skin and her own immune system took care of it, but not before a cell or two may have escaped and eventually started growing inside her body.
After her C-section, Kalvin Lung MD, a thoracic surgeon with the Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute obtained a sample of the tumor with advanced bronchoscopy. He discovered that the tumor was of stage 3 melanoma
During surgery, Lung and Mehta managed to remove Lauterbach’s entire right lung, parts of the main pulmonary artery and lymph nodes to save her life
Lauterbach will continue immunotherapy treatments for one year as her cancer continues to remain in stable condition and she celebrated her son’s first Christmas this year
‘After three doses of immunotherapy, once she was taken to surgery, the surgical specimen showed no melanoma cells that were viable.
‘MaKenna’s scans currently show no evidence of metastatic melanoma, and the hope is with continued surveillance, we’ll continue to show she has no evidence of disease. Medically, this is an amazing story with profound results. This type of outcome for our patients is what we always hope for,’ Chandra explained.
Lauterbach will continue immunotherapy treatments for one year as her cancer continues to remain in stable condition.
This year, she celebrated her son’s first Christmas.
‘Colter’s the best baby,’ she said.
‘He’s always happy and sleeps through the night. I’m so grateful to have Colter and Parker in my life, and I can’t say enough about the wonderful medical team that saved my life. Because of Northwestern Medicine, I’m here today.’
