*A standard prenatal scan revealed a rare tumor in TiLiyah Dawson’s unborn daughter, Tyra, and led to months of specialized medical care.
The Georgia mother shared the story with Newsweek. Dawson went to the appointment expecting a check on her baby’s growth. Doctors instead found that Tyra had developed a teratoma. The tumor affected the baby, not Dawson.
Teratomas start in germ cells and can hold mixed tissue, including hair. Many are harmless, but a large one found before birth can threaten both mother and baby. Estimates put the rate at one in 35,000 to 40,000 births.
The problem surfaced on an ultrasound meant to track the baby’s growth. At a second appointment, doctors explained what they had found. “They informed me that my daughter was developing what’s called a teratoma tumor,” Dawson said.
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By delivery day, the tumor had become large. Dawson went to a hospital in Augusta for a cesarean section, which avoided the risk of severe internal damage from a vaginal birth. “I didn’t get to see her or hold her after she was born,” Dawson said. She first visited Tyra in the NICU the next day.
Doctors removed the tumor, but Tyra’s airway was weak. “It caused her airways to become floppy, which led to them giving her a tracheotomy to hold her airway open and a feeding tube to help her eat,” Dawson said.
Tyra has since faced multiple procedures. Doctors have repeatedly sedated her to examine her trachea and lungs with a camera. Her tracheostomy and feeding tubes are now out. A January operation addressed the opening in her neck, but a tiny hole remains that Dawson expects to close soon. Tyra is beginning to speak and still attends speech therapy and checkups.
“I hope people take from my baby’s story that not everything has a bad ending,” Dawson said. The experience has inspired her to pursue a career as a NICU nurse.
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