Pregnancy

We know that everything we eat, drink, and breathe when we're pregnant can affect our growing baby, but the story of a baby girl who was born with cancer presents even more frightening possibilities. According to AZFamily.com, 9-month-old Addison Cox was born with cancer. Doctors are mystified by her case, but believe that her mother, Briana Cox, passed it on to her during pregnancy.

While Briana, a police officer and military veteran, had fought the disease previously, they thought she had beaten it until she had a seizure about a month after Addison's birth. The doctors found metastasized malignant melanoma that had spread through most of her body. At that point she demanded her daughter be tested. Doctors reassured her that she would be fine.

"Doctors told us it wasn't possible for Addison to get cancer while Briana was pregnant with her, that's just unheard of," James Cox, Addison's father, told CBS5.

Unfortunately, tests proved them wrong. They found stage four cancer in little Addison almost identical to the kind her mother had.

The story doesn't have a happy ending, unfortunately. Briana passed away earlier this month, and doctors give Addison just two years to live. The family's community is pulling together to raise money for her medical treatment, which is expensive because it's considered experimental and not covered by insurance. But some of it is working, shrinking tumors even, so there is hope.

There are so many questions in this case, from the medical -- how this could be physically possible -- to the more abstract -- why any family should be subjected to this much grief. Unfortunately for now, the answers aren't forthcoming. Hopefully, sharing this sad story will help the family raise the funds for Addison's treatment and perhaps the knowledge gained from her rare case may one day help prevent other families from suffering a similar fate. 

Donations can be made to the "Cox Family" account at Arizona Federal Credit Union. Account #826604. For more information, call Sgt. Keith Politte at 602-999-2214.

What did you fear most when you were pregnant?

Image via AZFamily.com