Holding her eight month old daughter Harlow in her arms, Ashley Conley says her baby girl is the reason she’s still alive.
“I credit Harlow with saving my life,” Conley said.
In February 2022, when Conley was 32 weeks pregnant, she noticed that her gums were bleeding and she was getting nose bleeds more frequently.
”I started bruising like crazy. My legs were covered with bruises,” Conley said.
She called her obstetrician at NorthShore Evanston Hospital, who ordered a blood test. Conley got a phone call early the next morning.
“You need to come in immediately. The doctor is concerned you have a super rare bleeding disorder,” Ashley remembers the caller saying.
Dr. Amy Wang, a hematologist-oncologist at NorthShore, feared it was acute promyelocytic leukemia, an extremely rare and aggressive blood cancer which accounts for only about 600 cases in the U.S. every year.
“It was so important to be able to stop the leukemia in its tracks as early as possible,” Dr. Wang said.
Kurt Conley, Ashley’s husband, said he could tell right away his wife was in trouble. “Seeing the doctors and seeing the look in their eyes and knowing how serious this was and thinking any moment, “This is it. I’m going to lose my wife,” Kurt said.
Within an hour of entering the hospital, Conley started oral chemotherapy, which is considered safe during the third trimester of pregnancy, according to Dr. Erin Tran, a high-risk obstetrician with NorthShore’s Maternal-Fetal Medicine team.
However, over the next 48 hours, Conley’s platelets continued to drop.
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“It was very difficult to treat until she was on a more aggressive chemo regimen, so it was decided that ultimately the best thing to do was deliver the baby,” Dr. Tran said.
Conley was transferred to the intensive care unit, where she delivered Harlow Rose early at 33 weeks. Conley started a more aggressive, intravenous chemotherapy an hour later.
Harlow spent nearly a month in the NICU, but then went home to her three big brothers in Cary, where she is now a healthy, smiley baby girl.
After eight months of treatment, Conley is now in remission. She said she’s beyond grateful to the entire team at NorthShore for saving her life, but she also admits she’s feeling a whole spectrum of emotions, including fear the leukemia could return.
“I went through hell and back, but hopefully I’m coming out of this alive and I get to spend the rest of my life with my children,” Conley said.
