She Refused to End Her Pregnancy Despite Cancer — Now She's Saving Other Mothers

A Diagnosis No Expectant Mother Should Ever Face

At just 14 weeks pregnant, Tampa's Alicia Harris was confronted with an impossible choice: she had just been diagnosed with an aggressive form of early breast cancer, and doctors told her that ending her pregnancy would allow treatment to begin immediately. She was 37 years old, already a mother to two boys, and now carrying a third child — and a diagnosis that threatened everything.

Harris had been diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma — a fast-moving cancer that, in the eyes of her first doctor, left little room for delay. "The first doctor I spoke to said it was grade three cancer, and so they recommended I terminate the pregnancy," Harris told Newsweek. But she wasn't willing to accept that as the only answer.

The Fight for a Second Opinion

"I decided for myself that I wanted to see if that was true and get other opinions to see what was right for me and my family." That instinct sent Harris on an exhausting search — one that most patients in her position never attempt. Even some of the doctors she spoke with didn't know how to respond, saying things like, "Oh, pregnant with cancer? Let me get back to you." A lot of them just didn't know how to deal with that.

Harris eventually found a doctor who had previously treated a pregnant woman with cancer a few months prior, and after carefully weighing her options, that doctor placed her on the same treatment regimen he had used for the earlier patient. "Knowing that the woman ahead of me went through it, and her baby was fine, we did what was best for us," Harris said. During the pregnancy, she underwent a lumpectomy, and because her cancer required immediate treatment, she began chemotherapy in her third trimester.

Surviving the Unsurvivable — Twice

Harris experienced frequent nosebleeds, headaches, and a series of health concerns requiring close medical monitoring and repeated trips to the emergency room. The challenges intensified when she contracted COVID-19 during treatment, forcing her to temporarily pause chemotherapy while she recovered. Through it all, she leaned on family. "It was very hard on me and my family, but we got through it," she said. "Thankfully, I had family members that rallied around and tried to help out as much as they could."

Harris had a lumpectomy, went through chemo during her third trimester, and delivered her daughter, Journi, at 36 weeks. She was in treatment, which included hormone therapy, for about a year and a half. But the end of active treatment didn't mean the end of the struggle. "You ring the bell, everything's okay, you're back to normal, but actually there's another layer to it," Harris said. "Survivorship is a forever thing."

Turning Pain Into Purpose

Inspired by her daughter, Journi, now 4, Harris founded Journi for Two, a nonprofit organization supporting pregnant women facing cancer diagnoses. The organization provides emotional support, medical coordination, and financial resources to these women. She also went back to school — returning at the age of 40 with the goal of becoming a nurse, despite having spent 20 years in the beauty industry and struggling with imposter syndrome. She graduated from nursing school and now works in the same oncology unit that saved her life.

Harris is also involved in the About Damn Time campaign, which focuses on an often-overlooked stage of the cancer journey: survivorship. Her message to other women in similar situations is rooted in the one thing that changed her own outcome — the courage to keep asking questions. She found an online community for pregnant cancer patients where women shared experiences of undergoing chemotherapy and other treatments while expecting, and that group became an important source of emotional support. Now she is that lifeline for others, proof that a second opinion — and an unshakeable refusal to give up — can rewrite the story entirely.