Baby Born 'Twice' at Texas Hospital

HOUSTON, TX — Margaret Boemer was pregnant with twins when she lost one of her babies.

A mother of two, Boemer then received news during a routine ultrasound that her unborn daughter had a rare birth defect called a sacrococcygeal teratoma, or SCT. She was 16 weeks pregnant at the time. The tumor, growing out of the tailbone, sucks the baby's blood and would eventually cause heart failure in the child.

"It was very shocking and scary because we did not know what that long word meant," Boemer said in an interview shared by Texas Children's Hospital.

The tumor is found more often in girls than in boys and only occurs in one out of every 35,000 births. Dr. Darrell Cass, one of the main surgeons on the case, said in an interview with CNN that some of the times the tumor can be taken out after the baby is born, but about half the time it becomes a blood flow problem. Cass explained that the tumor is trying to grow by sucking blood flow from the baby, yet the baby is also trying to grow, "so it becomes a competition."

After researching her options, Boemer decided to come to Texas Children's Hospital for consultations. She was 20 weeks pregnant when surgeons at the hospital's fetal center told her that fetal surgery was an option, but it would have to happen quickly.

"We were very pleased with what they had to say and the hope that they gave us," she said.

Another place that Boemer went to advised her to terminate the pregnancy, she said. Even though her daughter had a 50-50 chance of making it through the surgery, Boemer wanted to give her a chance at life.

"It was a choice of allowing the tumor to take over her body or giving her a chance of life, and so that's what we chose, to give her a chance" Boemer said.

Boemer had the surgery when she was 23 weeks pregnant when her baby began to experience signs of heart failure.

Cass and Dr. Oluyinka Olutoye worked for approximately five hours to remove the tumor growing from the baby’s tailbone, which was almost larger than the baby herself, according to the hospital. During the surgery, the baby's heart stopped and had to be re-started, and she was also given a blood transfusion.

The surgery also involved making an incision in Boemer's uterus and pulling out the baby from her legs to her torso so that they could remove the tumor, the hospital said. The baby was then placed back inside of the uterus, which was sewn shut. Cass told CNN the fetus was "hanging out in the air," since a huge incision was needed to get the tumor out. Surgeons removed about 90 percent of the tumor, and as Boemer's pregnancy progressed, the tumor once again began to grow.

Lynlee Hope was born via C-section in June.

She underwent surgery for a second time at eight days to remove the rest of the tumor from her tailbone, including some that had grown inside of her body.

Named after both her maternal and paternal grandmothers, Lynlee also shares a birthday with her paternal grandmother. Since the tumor was so big, Lynlee was unable to move around in the womb and was born with her left foot positioned outwards, meaning she will have to undergo physical therapy. She will also need to have regular follow-ups until she goes to college.

"It’ll be a good story to tell her what a fighter she is and how amazing she’s done through everything that she’s had to go through," Boemer said. "To let her know that we wanted to give her that chance at life and how exciting it is that she’s made it through and not only made it through but done so well and we’re very thankful for the doctors."

Boemer said they had to come down to Houston for the surgery, as there was no hospital in the Dallas area, where the family lives, that had experience with in-utero surgery. While she said it was a sacrifice for her family, Lynlee was the gift they received for the sacrifice.

Her advice to other mothers who may find themselves in her situation was to do their research and have hope.

"Don't ever think that there's not an option," she said. "Don't ever think that termination is the only option because it's not, there's always something that you can do."

Images courtesy Texas Children's Hospital