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Mom shares heartbreaking photo of her breastfeeding post-mastectomy

Last winter, DeShonjla “Shonni” Peterson had just completed her journey toward losing 40 pounds — the loving mother and wife was “getting her sexy together” for 40 and beyond when she discovered some heartbreaking news. On Nov. 22, 2016, she found out she had stage 1 breast cancer.

“What in the h-ll is going on?” Peterson wrote on her personal blog. She was scared, but also thankful she lost enough weight for doctors to discover the cancer when they did. She decided to tackle it head on.

“I scheduled my appointment to have a bilateral mastectomy with a reconstruction so that I could truly come out a better model than I did going in,” she said. “I cried and cried and prayed, and cried, I cried while praying, and I cussed.”

But less than a month later, on Dec. 19, the day before her surgery, Peterson discovered some shocking news: she was pregnant.

“So, I got into work and took the {pregnancy} test,” she wrote. Her husband Kevin had a dream that she was pregnant, and she was taking the test almost as a formality to calm his nerves and move on with the surgery.

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My little swimmers are done for today. LOL!! One snoring and the other one drooling.

A post shared by logan2kelsi (@logan2kelsi) on Jul 22, 2017 at 10:06am PDT

“I knew God would not put a child in the middle of this mess,” she thought before taking the test. “Well, y’all know how that turned out… I mean I (was) whispering and smiling and shaking and scared like CRAZY!”

The pregnancy discovery was bittersweet. She and Kevin wanted two kids, but were content and thankful with their daughter, Kelsi, and believed that with the cancer diagnosis that it just wouldn’t happen.

“OHHH BUT GOD!! The funny character he is,” she wrote. To protect her unborn child, Peterson opted for a unilateral mastectomy and refused chemotherapy treatment. She also decided to use her heartbreaking experience into an inspirational blog journey, Pregnant With a Side of Cancer, to help encourage other mothers in similar situations.

Just recently, Peterson gave birth to a healthy baby girl, Zoe, and shared a heartbreaking photo of her newborn breastfeeding from her single right breast. In a recent post, Peterson said she may be able to breastfeed for three months at best before she has to stop so that she can begin chemo.

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“As I write this I’m nursing Zoë who nurses almost exactly like her sister. She had no problem latching and puts her little hand atop my breast while she eats,” she wrote.

“This may be greedy or selfish since I have been afforded her getting here safely. As I watch her nurse all I think is I want more time. I want more to nurse her. I want more time with Kelsi. I want more time with Kevin. I want more time to live {and} fill my home with love.

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“I don’t feel as if I won’t defeat cancer and have more time in some areas, it just seems like maybe I’m wanting or asking too much in this situation,” she concluded.

Peterson’s next chemo round begins on Aug. 18, and she will continue to share her journey with her followers.

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