New hope for chemotherapy mum as treatment looks to be working

A charity webpage set up by a cancer patient from Portishead has passed its target 60 times over.

Heidi Loughlin discovered she had an aggressive form of breast cancer when she was 20 weeks pregnant. She knew her baby would have to be born early to allow for her to have potentially life-giving treatment and that she would be cared for in an incubator.

She also knew she would lose her hair to chemotherapy so she and a friend decided to have their heads shaved for Bristol's St Michael's Hospital Cots for Tots appeal.

That was where the fundraising started and it has since mushroomed.

Despite Heidi putting off treatment to give her unborn baby the best start in life, daughter Ally Louise Smith was born by Caesarian on 11 December, weighing just 2lb 5oz. She passed away on Saturday 19 December.

Read: Heidi has written a moving tribute to baby Ally.

The fundraising continues - you can find out more here.

A baby born twelve weeks early in Bristol after her mother delayed chemotherapy has died.

Police officer Heidi Loughlin was three months pregnant when she was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive inflammatory breast cancer.

She was offered an abortion by doctors who told Heidi she should start life-saving treatment immediately.

Heidi put her own life at risk and delayed the super-strong chemotherapy in favour of a less effective treatment which would not harm the baby.

But after she received the news that the medicine was not working and she needed to start stronger drugs, she had a c-section on December 11.

Ally Louise Smith, from Portishead, who weighed just 2lb 5oz, passed away on Saturday.