His name is Elizaveta Bulokhova, is a model and recently explained what he lived last year when, at 24, he faced the most difficult decision of his life. She was pregnant when she went on vacation to Amsterdam with her partner, Roman Troubetskoi. While there he began to feel a strong pain in his mouth, which he interpreted as a toothache. When they went to the doctor they gave him the fatal news: he had a cancer that affected virtually the entire lower jaw and that it should be treated as soon as possible, for which it would have to abort the baby.
What to do before such news? Save life and lose your baby's? Deny assistance and continue with pregnancy? She opted for listen to your baby, in his belly, he didn't hesitate to tell him what he had to do.
He was a very active baby and I liked talking to him often while he was in my belly. I had to tell him to stop moving because I couldn't keep up with him and then, suddenly, he did. He listened to me: he stopped moving ... I decided that what the universe had decided for me was going to accept it. If my baby was meant to be born, it would be born.
She had been guided by doctors. I had to abort. It was the way to start treatment and try to end cancer. But his son kept moving in his belly, as always. He could not bear to know that he was going to abort his baby against his will and that he kept saying "mom, I'm here", with his movements and kicks, and told him that he had to stop, that it couldn't be, that they wouldn't get to to know, to stop moving ... and he listened to her and stopped. He stopped kicking, stopped being the happy baby growing inside and took care of the situation.
Well, that's how she interpreted it. He was probably crying, furious with the situation, and to the baby that whole situation, with the altered voice of mom and her heart beating at different speeds, it must have seemed novel or important enough to stop listening. It was her way of understanding that something was happening and she felt it as the clear signal that her baby also suffered from what happened.
He underwent a 16-hour emergency intervention in which 95% of his jaw was removed and he underwent a complicated reconstruction with part of the fibula bone and skin of the leg, arm, hip and back. The operation removed the affected part, but it was not enough. Should do chemotherapy and was totally incompatible with pregnancy.
But he decided to go ahead, take the risk, let it be what it had to be, but put his baby ahead.
The recovery of the operation was slower than expected: it could not open the mouth and had to be fed through a nasogastric tube (which reaches the stomach through the nose). To breathe they had to do a tracheotomy, hence her scar on her neck, and they had to wait until everything healed well and she was stronger to start with chemotherapy.
That delay, that time that was going made it possible for the baby would continue to grow inside until week 28, when she and her partner decided to ask if it would be possible and viable to have the baby already. An attempt was made to give birth, but they failed to dilate and in the end a caesarean section was performed, 10 weeks before it went out of account.
The baby had to enter the Neonatal Unit where he stayed 51 days, growing and getting strong. Meanwhile, Eslizaveta began to do chemotherapy and began to try to eat: he could barely open his mouth and had no appetite. According to account, it could take up to an hour to eat an egg.
Whenever I could and it was safe for both of us, he was going to see his baby, Valentine, until one day, finally, the three of them could leave the hospital.
The photo shoot after all
Photographer Manolo Ceron wanted to tell his story through an incredible photo shoot, full of strength, pain, struggle and inspiration.
He contacted her to offer him that possibility, and she liked the idea of being able to explain it that way, to pose again, to do what he had done for 7 years, before the terrible news. The result is what you see.
And this is all about a woman who, with only 24 years, had to face one of the worst situations that can be experienced: Choose between putting your life at risk or aborting your baby.
Should we think what to do in your situation? No, I think not. It is not worth it, because nobody who is not in the same situation will know the conditions of each decision and the pain of having to choose between two terrible options.
What we can do is to know the history, to know that these things happen, that there are people determined to fight no matter what happens and that helps us to understand them, understand their choice, share the pain, or make it a bit, and inspire us for your strength and determination.
3 days ago, on her Instagram account, Elizaveta shared a family photo. I wanted to share it too because I thought it was beautiful: a family that smiles despite everything that has had to happen to get to that moment:
Via and Photos | DailyMail, BoredPanda, Manolo Studios
In Babies and more | Write dozens of letters to your 4-year-old daughter when she is gone, Don't let a day go by without telling them how much you love them
