17/10/2026
My sister strongest ❤️
This is Paige. She was 32 weeks pregnant when she thought she was getting breathless because her baby was pushing on her lungs until a scan found a one-in-a-million ‘mass’ near her heart 😔
Paige was just two months from giving birth when she told her doctor about worsening breathlessness and pain stretching from her chest towards her shoulder.
She assumed it was a normal symptom of late pregnancy, believing her growing baby girl was pushing upwards and making it harder to breathe, but a CT scan revealed a worrying mass in her chest, close to her heart. Paige was diagnosed with thymoma cancer type B3, a condition seen in only one in a million people 💔
She says the diagnosis came as a devastating shock after she and partner Richard, 34, had spent four years trying to become parents through IVF. Doctors told Paige that her baby would be fine but that they might need to deliver her slightly early so she could begin aggressive chemotherapy.
Riven-Leigh was born by C-section in December 2025, three weeks before her due date, weighing 6lb 3oz. Paige had hoped for a natural birth but doctors were concerned about the possibility of complications during labour and the availability of a heart specialist.
Paige went on to have five rounds of chemotherapy, starting in January this year. In May, she underwent major surgery to remove the tumour. Doctors discovered that it was wrapped around blood vessels close to her heart 😯
Although they believed they had removed the tumour, Paige's pathology later showed a 'microscopic positive margin'. She needed further treatment and has now started daily proton beam therapy, with her fifth session taking place this week.
Her surgery was followed by a series of life-threatening complications. After the breathing tube was removed in recovery, one of the stitches on a blood vessel ruptured, causing internal bleeding.
Paige went into cardiac arrest and her left lung collapsed. She also suffered partial paralysis of her vocal cords and developed blood clots in her upper chest. She required further surgery to remove fluid from around her lung and help it inflate again.
Paige spent six days in intensive care and continues to experience breathlessness and pain while her lung recovers. She has also been left with nerve damage and says her vocal cords may not recover fully 😢
Just utterly heartbreaking, we’re sending you our love Paige! ❤️🩹
