Focusing On Patients

Special delivery
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In Lopez' case, she delivered a healthy four-and-half pound baby girl who was smaller than average but otherwise completely healthy.

"She was really tiny, but she was okay," says Lopez, who went home two weeks later. Lopez' prognosis is good: An 85 percent chance the cancer will not recur.

"My girl is a very happy and spoiled little baby," says Lopez. "Everybody loves her. She's very happy. And I'm happy too. I don't know how I can ever thank all of the doctors and nurses who took care of me. They helped me get through this."

Hampton's case was a little more complicated. After she delivered a healthy baby girl, physicians found two enlarged lymph nodes, indicating the cancer had spread. Instead of a hysterectomy, she underwent six weeks of radiation therapy combined with six weeks of chemotherapy.

Last year, the National Cancer Institute recommended this course of treatment be standard for women with locally advanced cervical cancer. Previously, physicians disagreed on whether radiation therapy was enough. But it's been standard protocol for patients at UC Davis Medical Center for the past 10 years.

Renita and her daughter Dimonique: "I've realized I've got to look after myself so that I can take care of everyone else."