Mom Fighting Brain Cancer Gives Birth to 'Miracle Baby'

The New York mother who found out, while pregnant, that she had aggressive brain cancer has given birth to her "miracle baby," reports the Buffalo News. Kim and Phil Vaillancourt had two children and had just adopted three more when Kim went to the hospital to get help with bad headaches over Christmas; she says she wouldn't have gone were she not worried for the baby she was carrying. Thus, the couple credits Wyatt Eli, born Friday, with saving his mom's life. Kim was determined to carry him as long as possible, even though it meant delaying chemotherapy and radiation treatment, and he was born a month early at 4 pounds, 7 ounces (his due date was in mid-May).

He had to spend some time in the neonatal intensive care unit, but is doing well, Kim's sister says, and he could go home from the hospital next week. Kim's sister says mom is doing well too—she had surgery to remove two brain tumors while she was carrying Wyatt, and tests in late February showed they had not regrown. Right now, Kim's sister says, her focus is more on her new baby than on her own treatment: She "wants a break, just to enjoy Wyatt." His name means "little warrior sent by God," per a GoFundMe campaign set up to help the Tonawanda couple, whose other children range in age from 6 to 12. (This woman's pregnancy turned out to be a deadly tumor.)