'Healthy' mum-of-three, 22, given devastating diagnosis while pregnant with third child

An otherwise 'healthy' mum who was had a liver condition while pregnant was given a devastating diagnosis and says she would never have known if it wasn't for her pregnancy.

Emma Brooke, 22, from Thornton, Merseyside, was in and out of hospital with cholestasis of the liver while she was pregnant with her youngest child Alfie. During an ultrasound of her liver, doctors discovered a 10cm tumour on her right kidney.

The mum-of-three was then induced at 37 weeks, in July last year, so doctors could get a clearer view of her kidney. But just two weeks after welcoming her son, her kidney had to be removed.

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And on September 15 last year, Emma was given a devastating diagnosis; she had papillary renal cell carcinoma, a type of kidney cancer. Emma started immunotherapy but this did not work. In another blow, Emma was told the cancer had spread to her spine, some bones and her breastbone and was told it was stage four in March.

Speaking to the ECHO, her sister Mel Brooke said her sister was devastated by the news. She said: "Emma's coping OK with it now, she was very shocked at first, as you can imagine she was really upset and she couldn't get out of bed. But she is coping a bit better now, I think we're just raising as much funds as we can for her.

"Doctors have said if the treatment that she can get fails, then she will only have a couple of years left. We're all just trying to cope with the news and help with her three children as well."

The 26-year-old added Emma had no symptoms and would not have found out she had cancer if she wasn't pregnant. She added: "It was a liver scan but then they found a 10cm tumour on her kidney. If she wasn't pregnant she