Mesothelioma Patient Hopes to Conceive Someday

COLUMBIA, Mo. - A 24 year old New York woman is holding on to hope that she may someday conceive and have children of her own despite suffering from a rare abdominal cancer caused by exposure to asbestos.

Michelle Baetiong was originally mis-diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2005. As part of her treatment for the mistaken diagnosis, doctors removed all of her right ovary and most of her left. In 2006, doctors conceded that she had abdominal cancer. Baetiong explored her options for fertility, and was told that there was only a 6 percent chance that her harvested eggs would ever result in a successful pregnancy.

Despite the low odds, Baetiong decided to undergo the harvesting procedure with only about 15 percent of an ovary. Doctors harvested two eggs, which the New York resident has had frozen in the hopes that she will be able to conceive and carry in the future.

The condition that Baetiong actually has is a rare form of a rare cancer. Mesothelioma is caused by exposure to airborne asbestos that may be inhaled or swallowed. The most common form of mesothelioma is pleural mesothelioma, which affects the thin tissue lining around the lungs. Baetiong’s illness is peritoneal mesothelioma, cancer that affects the tissue lining the abdominal cavity and organs. Still rarer is pericardial mesothelioma, which affects the heart’s lining.

Baetiong is an anomaly among those diagnosed with mesothelioma, although that may be changing. In the past, mesothelioma has been most commonly diagnosed in middle-aged upper working class white males. The apparent reason for the narrow focus of the cancer is inherent in the cause and the method of exposure. Those most likely to suffer from mesothelioma are those who were exposed to it daily in the workplace.

Asbestos, used as insulation in construction, plumbing, heating, ship building, and in heavy industrial uses and manufacturing, was common in workplaces from before World War I through the 1970s. Given the tenor of the times, those most likely to be exposed to high levels of asbestos were those workers who could be hired to work relatively high-paying manual labor jobs.

It is becoming more widely known, however, that there are also those who suffered “secondary exposure” when family or other household members tracked asbestos dust home with them on skin, hair and clothing. In addition, there are some whose mesothelioma is the result of environmental exposure, or exposure to friable asbestos in their homes, schools or other buildings. Because asbestos is nearly ubiquitous in the U.S., it is sometimes difficult to trace the specific when and how of asbestos exposure.

Baetiong may have been exposed in any one of dozens of different ways. It’s very likely that her atypical profile misled doctors who dealt with her case. By the time she was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma, her only remaining fertility option was the egg freezing procedure.

Baetiong’s fertility specialist has warned her that her chances of conception are low when she is ready to use the egg, but the 24 year old wanted to preserve even the slightest chance of becoming pregnant someday. She says that she has high hopes that her 6 percent chance today may become a 15 percent - or better - chance in the future.

“The future is about advanced technology,” she said.

University of Missouri-Columbia researchers are working toward this future, and hope for Baetiong and others like her.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 at 1:33 pm and is filed under Asbestos Exposure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. Responses are currently closed, but you trackback from your own site.