Christian mother who forwent cancer treatments to protect her unborn child succumbs to cancer

A pro-life mother who prayerfully put the needs of her unborn child before her own and shared the meaning she found in suffering succumbed Saturday to cancer. Jessica Hanna of Michigan has not only left behind four children and her husband, Lamar Hanna, but also a powerful example of how faith can help co-opt pain and defang death.

On Good Friday, just days before her passing, Hanna wrote, "We have all sinned ... each and every one of us. And so, as this cross is laid at our feet and we have a chance to pick it up and carry it to Calvary, we must not turn away and run. ... Instead we must carry it and walk alongside our Lord, telling Him as we drag our crosses together, just how much we love Him and wish that He remember us when He comes into His kingdom."

"Just like the good thief, we need to recognize we are there because of our own doing, and that He is there because of our wrongdoing also," added Hanna.

The Catholic News Agency reported that Hanna discovered while 14-weeks pregnant in 2020 that she had terminal breast cancer.

Prior to conceiving, Hanna had spotted a dent in her breast, but doctors wrote it off as a benign growth. However, it became abundantly clear at subsequent appointments that she had breast cancer.

Again, doctors reportedly downplayed the concern, suggesting she had a tiny, stage 1 tumor. They realized after performing surgery on the pregnant mother that the tumor was stage 4, measuring more than five inches — likely a fatal diagnosis.

Hanna was reportedly advised to abort her child. As a devout, pro-life Catholic, she decided her fatal diagnosis would not extend to her unborn son, Thomas, as well.

Hanna told EWTN Pro-Life Weekly, "This was God calling me to something so big."

"It was just a journey of, 'Wow. Now you've talked the talk — the pro-life talk. Now you've become the woman everybody uses in their arguments — what if the woman's life is in danger?'" said Hanna. "And now it's time for me to walk the walk."

Hanna accepted only those treatments that would not adversely impact the baby, forgoing other potentially life-saving medical interventions. According to the Catholic News Agency, Hanna declined CT and bone scans of the rest of her body due to her pregnancy.

Extra to dedicating more time to prayer, Hanna seized upon the opportunity to both share her experiences with others on social media and build a prayer community.

Hanna told the "Yes Catholic" podcast that she named her social media account "blessed by cancer" because "without this suffering I would never have abandoned the world and FINALLY put the entire focus on my eternal life. No matter how my story continues or where my ministry takes me, I know one thing for certain ... God's plan is my only plan, I have no plan B!"

"I thought no suffering should ever go to waste," the mother told EWTN Pro-Life Weekly. "I don't know where God is taking me. Is he going to take me to the path where I need to show people how to die gracefully, with his grace and mercy? Or is he going to show a miracle?"

With prayer and perseverance, she successfully gave birth to Thomas in 2021, afterward enjoying a fleeting respite from cancer.

Despite clear scans and indications cancer had not spread elsewhere, Hanna learned in 2022 that the disease had returned, this time, undeniably stage 4.

As her health deteriorated over the past two years, Hanna continued to share her experience online. In the videos she shared to Instagram, Hanna unfailingly underscores her love of God and acceptance of her lot in life.

Following her passing Saturday evening, Lamar Hanna wrote, "My beautiful bride peacefully went to her eternal reward. She received Extreme Unction and the Apostolic Pardon from Fr. Canon Sharpe Thursday. On Saturday she was very peaceful and surrounded by her loving family, she breathed her last. She suffered joyfully, and without fear in her last days."

Last year, Hanna noted that while her days were numbered, everyone is ultimately "terminal" and ought to act accordingly. She noted that she wished she had operated with this understanding in her "healthier life," during which she was previously "asleep to eternity."

"I was consumed with a world that is fleeting yet still proclaimed the Gospel," wrote Hanna. "I didn't walk the narrow path with fear & trembling, I unknowingly was skipping along the wide path of destruction while the devil fooled me into thinking my faith alone & kindness were 'enough.' It was far from it and in my heart I lacked true charity that calls for sacrificial love, dying to self and renouncing all worldly cares that would pull me away from God"

The pro-life mother noted it is prudent not to "wait for a 'diagnosis,' [for] God has already diagnosed you TERMINAL and He will come like a thief in the night. Be ready, pick up the cross at your feet & start TRULY FOLLOWING HIM."

Blessed by Cancer : Jessica Hannayoutu.be

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