Amy Carroll Told She May Not Survive Christmas After Early Birth
Amy Carroll, 35, was diagnosed with stage four brain cancer while pregnant and gave birth nine weeks early to start treatment. Doctors have now told her the cancer has spread and she is unlikely to live past Christmas. Her son Arlo is healthy at home.
Amy Carroll, a 35-year-old mother from Great Addington, Northamptonshire, has been told she is unlikely to live past Christmas, four months after giving birth nine weeks early so doctors could begin emergency cancer treatment. It is a mum's heartache she's told no family wants to hear.
Carroll, a support worker and mindset coach, was diagnosed with stage four brain cancer while pregnant. She needed an emergency caesarean section at almost 31 weeks. The operation took place in July 2026.
Her son, Arlo Atlas Sirus, was born weighing 4lb 2oz. He is now healthy and at home.
Cancer has spread further
When doctors prepared to start chemotherapy, they found the cancer had advanced further than first believed. After months of scans and blood tests, Carroll was told earlier in November that it had spread to her bones, chest, liver, breast, lymph nodes and brain.
She said she now has "16 masses on my brain". She described the diagnosis as "advanced stage 4 incurable metastatic breast cancer", with widespread spread to the brain, bones and lymph nodes.
"Basically it's everywhere," she said. "When they showed me the PET scan, it's just everywhere." She added that cancer has also been found on her liver, which is still working.
Doctors have started her on new medication. Despite that, they told her she may not survive past Christmas.
A second cancer fight
This is not her first diagnosis. Carroll found she had breast cancer in 2021, after cosmetic surgery on her breasts following breastfeeding. She said she noticed a small lump and went on to have chemotherapy, radiotherapy and eight different surgeries.
She had been told she could never have more children. She is already a mother of four.
"This pregnancy saved my life because I didn't realise I was ill," she said. "After my breast cancer treatment, I was told I could never have kids so this baby is a miracle."
Early in the pregnancy she felt unwell and was diagnosed with gestational diabetes for the first time. She felt dizzy and faint and put it down to the diabetes. Then her partner woke to find her having a seizure, and an ambulance took her to hospital.
"Within a couple of days, they told me the cancer had come back and there were seven masses on my brain," she said. She does not remember any of it.
Arlo is thriving
Carroll said Arlo, now four months old, is doing "really really well considering he's a prem baby". He now weighs 15lb 2oz.
She remains defiant. "I'm literally fighting for my life and living every day. It's breaking me inside. I'm not going to die, I will be there for my kids," she said.
"Mentally, mindset is everything. If you're not very good in your head, you're not going to fight it."
Although her cancer is incurable, medical staff have begun a new course of treatment that may offer some hope. It includes bone injections to help with her bones.
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