A mom has revealed how one of the happiest days of her life, giving birth to her son, turned into a horrible blur due to a rare cancer diagnosis.  

Danika Hilmer from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, expected to leave the hospital with her third child, Banks Mohwinkle, after giving birth in October 2022. Instead, she received some ‘devastating’ news.

Despite giving her an injection to stop the post-birth bleeding, doctors couldn’t prevent Danika from hemorrhaging and decided to order a blood test.

Within 30 minutes, the results revealed that Danika had acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer. 

In the United States, roughly 22,000 people annually receive a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). It’s the most prevalent type of acute leukemia in adults, known for its swift progression over just a few weeks.

Though AML is less common in individuals under 45, the average age of diagnosis is around 69, making occurrences in younger people unusual.

Hilmer’s case was highly unusual as she was just 32 at the time of her diagnosis. 

Upon finding leukemia in her blood, the new mother had her newborn taken from her arms and was immediately transferred to another hospital to begin chemotherapy.

Danika Hilmer, 34, is shown in the hospital with her newborn son Banks Mohwinkle and older sons Beckett, 13, and Perry, 8. Just hours later, she learned she had a rare cancer.

After doctors discovered the leukemia in her blood, the new mom had her newborn taken from her arms and was rushed to another hospital to start chemotherapy treatment immediately

Hilmer stayed in the hospital for a month, leaving her then fiancé to care for their tiny son and the other two children, until she was able to return home a few days before Thanksgiving.

The stay-at-home mom underwent two further rounds of chemotherapy followed by a successful stem cell transplant in January 2023 and has been in remission since.

Hilmer says giving birth that day ‘saved her life’ and fears what stage the cancer would have been detected at if the blood test had been carried out any later. 

The time course of AML progression can vary, but it typically progresses within weeks to months, with the number of abnormal cells in the blood increasing quickly. 

Unlike solid tumors, AML doesn’t use a traditional stage numbering system.

Symptoms of AML, such as fatigue, weakness, unintentional weight loss, and night sweats, are often missed as they are vague and can be mistaken for common illnesses. 

As the disease progresses, they can become more apparent, with easy bruising, bone pain, frequent infections, and significant enlargement of the spleen or liver, raising concern.

The five-year survival rate is around 30 percent. Hilmer says she experienced no unusual symptoms during her pregnancy other than sciatica, a pain, numbness, or tingling that starts in the lower back or buttocks and radiates down the leg.

She believes that if it weren’t for her pregnancy, she might not have caught the cancer in time.  

Hilmer said: ‘This pregnancy absolutely saved my life. I went to the hospital that morning fully anticipating just having a baby, and that was it.

‘After I had him, I was haemorrhaging so I was losing a lot of blood, and the doctors and nurses were unable to get it to stop.

‘They tried to give me a shot at one point to stop the bleeding, but it didn’t work.’

Bleeding after pregnancy is normal and called lochia, but excessive bleeding, large clots, or foul odor may signal a complication.

Hilmer continued bleeding for around an hour after giving birth.

At one point, the doctors considered sending her for a hysterectomy to stop it. 

But before opting for the procedure, the doctor who performed the delivery decided to order blood work to see if that could reveal what was behind the excessive bleeding. 

In the US, around 22,000 people are diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) each year and it is the most common form of acute leukemia in adults, characterized by its rapid progression over the course of a few weeks

Hilmer says giving birth that day ‘saved her life’ and fears what stage the cancer would have been detected at if the blood test had been carried out any later

Unexpectedly, the doctor returned and explained to Hilmer that she had AML. Topping things off, she also found out she had Covid, so she had to be cared for in an isolation room, treated with medical staff wearing layers of personal protective equipment.

She recalled: ‘They ended up taking a blood sample, and it only took 30 minutes for it to come back.

‘The doctor came back into the room to tell me that the results showed that I had acute myeloid leukemia. 

‘My fiancé and I were both in shock. My baby was taken out of my arms, and I was rushed away to a different hospital where I had to start chemotherapy right away.

‘I am very thankful that the doctor decided to do blood work instead of that surgery because I probably wouldn’t be here today. My platelet counts were so low that I would not have been able to stop bleeding.’

Platelets help blood clot, making them essential for stopping bleeding and healing wounds. 

Because she had no symptoms, the mother-of-three said the diagnosis came as a complete ‘shock’. 

She said: ‘I kept thinking that when I got to the other hospital, they would tell me it was wrong, but when I got there, they confirmed that it was true.

‘I spent the next month in hospital, going through chemo, and it was very depressing.

‘I was hormonal because I’d just had a baby that I could not be with and was only allowed a couple of visits from my newborn, as well as my other two children.

‘It was isolating. I was not doing very well mentally at that time because it was all so much.’

Hilmer, pictured here, says she experienced no unusual symptoms during her pregnancy other than sciatica, a pain, numbness, or tingling that starts in the lower back or buttock and radiates down the leg

Hilmer, pictured with her partner and their three children, hopes sharing her story will highlight the importance of preventive health care

After undergoing a stem cell transplant, Hilmer said it took another year before she had her strength and energy back and felt like herself again. 

A stem cell transplant allows doctors to give higher doses of chemotherapy than normally could be given. 

The process involves high-dose chemotherapy to eliminate leukemia cells and stem cells, followed by the infusion of healthy donor stem cells, which can then target and destroy remaining cancer cells.

The blood-forming stem cells used for a transplant can come either from blood or from bone marrow. Sometimes stem cells from a baby’s umbilical cord blood are used.

Thanks to the stem cell transplant, Hilmer made a recovery. However, this June, she found out she has Stage 1 invasive ductal carcinoma breast cancer, and she underwent a double mastectomy to treat it.

Invasive ductal carcinoma, also known as infiltrating ductal carcinoma or IDC, is the most common form of breast cancer, accounting for 80 percent of all breast cancer diagnoses. 

It occurs when abnormal cells growing in the lining of the milk ducts change and invade breast tissue beyond the walls of the duct. Once that happens, the cancer cells can spread.

Hilmer hopes sharing her story will highlight the importance of preventive health care.