Teen with Cancer Gives Up Life for Son

It’s not uncommon to hear stories about teenage pregnancies, but what makes Jenni’s story unique is that she also was terminally-ill with cancer while pregnant.

Sixteen-year-old Jenni Lake, then a sophomore in Idaho, was just like any other regular girl. She had a boyfriend, Nathan Wittman, and she described herself as someone who likes hanging out with her friends and meeting new people to talk to. 

But all that changed when she started suffering from migraines. Upon consulting a doctor, it was recommended that she get an MRI, and from there she was diagnosed with stage 3 astrocytoma, a rare kind of brain tumor which has spread from her brain to her body without any symptoms. 

Test results revealed that Jenni had three tumors in her brain and another three on her spine, and doctors warned that while she had a 30 percent chance of surviving with treatment, she might not be able to have kids. 

To capture the moments as she underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment, Jenni set up a YouTube page called “Jenni’s Journey”, but she got too tired and experienced intense pain with her treatments that only three videos were ever uploaded.

In March 2011, Jenni’s tumors started shrinking. In May, she would learn that she was carrying a 10-week-old baby.