Iowa mom learns of cancer diagnosis after giving birth
I had no symptoms or any idea I was going to be told I had cancer.
Danika Hilmer doesn’t know how long the cancer might have gone undetected if not for her son, Banks.
In the minutes after Banks was born in October 2022 at a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, hospital, nurses told Danika she was losing more blood than normal, but she didn’t sense any panic from her care team.
“Nobody seemed too concerned,” Danika says. "My husband and I continued to spend time with our newest baby while the nurses continued to push on my stomach.”
Danika was given a shot to try to slow the bleeding, but it didn’t work.
“At this point I was starting to wonder why I was losing so much blood, but I definitely wasn’t worried,” Danika recalls. “I figured this must happen to women pretty often, and that it would stop eventually.”
She says the doctor who delivered Banks considered doing a hysterectomy to stop the bleeding but wanted to get the blood tested before he did.
A surprising diagnosis
Less than two hours after giving birth, Danika, of Marion, Iowa, learned she had acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
“A lot of what happened next is a blur, but I do remember a nurse taking my baby out of my arms as I was getting ready to be rushed to University of Iowa Health Care to start chemotherapy that same night,” Danika recalls.
Danika started chemotherapy at UI Health Care that day—and then tested positive for COVID. She spent a month in the hospital, completed chemotherapy, and was able to return home a few days before Thanksgiving.
“I was told I was going to need a stem cell transplant, and the amazing staff at UI Health Care were able to find a match pretty quickly,” Danika says. She was readmitted to the hospital in January and spent a month in isolation while undergoing another round of chemotherapy in preparation for her transplant.
“My transplant was successful, and I have been in remission ever since,” Danika exclaims.
Miracle baby
Danika says she and her husband think of Banks as their miracle baby.
“I had no symptoms or any idea I was going to be told I had cancer after delivering my baby,” she says. “My blood tests from the beginning of my pregnancy were normal.
“If I hadn’t had him, how long would my cancer have gone undiagnosed? I can’t even put into words how glad I am that he came into the world.”
Danika is grateful for her cancer team and the Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Program at UI Health Care Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center for helping her and her family get through treatment.
“They have been more than amazing to me and my family throughout all this,” she says. “The support they provided me while I was in the hospital, and since I’ve been back home, is incredible. I can’t thank them enough.”
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