“Oh, I just had the worst dream of my entire life.”

That was Jackie Coad’s first thought when she woke up in a hospital room 16 years ago. In her dream, she had gone into the hospital to deliver her baby, only to be told midway through labour that she had acute myeloid leukemia. In the dream, she went into shock, and her labour stopped. She was induced, and finally delivered her baby a healthy girl. In the dream, when she couldn’t deliver the placenta, her doctor put her under general anaesthetic in order to remove it.

But when Jackie awoke, one look at her husband’s face told her that it hadn’t been a dream. In fact, the new mom was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia, and spent the next six weeks in hospital undergoing chemotherapy. She would spend the first several months of her daughter’s life in and out of hospital for treatment.

Looking back, Jackie, now 43, describes it as a bittersweet time. The joys of becoming a mother were mixed with the fears and the challenges of cancer treatment.

“Every time I had to go back into the hospital for treatment, I didn’t want to go. But I had lots of reminders of why I had to do it my daughter, my husband, my family. I couldn’t have done it without them.”

Jackie’s own mother took a leave of absence from her job and lived with them for eight months. The family also hired a wonderful nanny so that Jackie’s husband Stephen could be by her side during treatments. Their immediate and extended families all pitched in. “It made me really understand the importance of family.”

Dealing with cancer also taught Jackie new things about herself. As she struggled with changes in her appearance her weight went up and down and she lost all her hair she realized she was stronger than she thought she was. She learned to slow down and not live too far ahead in the future. She developed more compassion, and more patience. “I was not a patient person before, but so much of being tired, being in a hospital, of waiting for treatment, is about having patience.”

Each year, on her daughter’s birthday, Jackie is reminded of the roller coaster of emotions she experienced at her daughter’s birth. “It’s a joyous time, but it brings up a lot of heartfelt things. I know that if I hadn’t gone into labour and been in the hospital, I might not have been diagnosed soon enough. My daughter saved my life.”