Michelle Hughes felt a persistent pain beneath her ribs during pregnancy, something many expectant mothers dismiss as a side effect of the growing baby. What she didn’t know was that this seemingly minor discomfort would lead to a discovery of a rare, incurable cancer — a diagnosis she wouldn’t receive until five years later.
Throughout her pregnancies, Michelle endured occasional flare-ups of the pain. Scans showed a benign liver cyst, so she continued on with life, focusing on her growing family. However, after the birth of her third child, a sudden collapse led to shocking results: her liver and lungs were filled with tumors, and a biopsy revealed epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (EHE), a rare cancer that had been silently spreading for years.
