When Sasha Sabrina Azeez found out she was pregnant with twins in April 2024, it felt like a dream come true.
But her excitement quickly turned to fear when doctors saw something alarming during her first ultrasound: a large cyst on her right ovary.
Initially, she was told it wasn’t something to be worried about – her oncologist explained because she was ‘young and healthy,’ the chance of it being cancerous was slim.
They decided to ‘monitor it and see what happens,’ but when it more than doubled in size over the next few months, her doctor became increasingly concerned.
Azeez was ultimately told the cyst was cancerous and was faced with a terrifying decision: to undergo surgery to remove the tumor while pregnant and risk her babies’ lives, or to wait until after she gave birth and risk her own life.
She laid bare her terrifying health battle exclusively with the Daily Mail.
‘At my first ultrasound when I was about four weeks pregnant I was told I was having twins. I was also told “we see a large cyst on your right ovary,”‘ Azeez, 32, from Toronto, Canada, revealed.
She said she had no symptoms and initially ‘shrugged it off.’
When Sasha Sabrina Azeez found out she was pregnant with twins in April 2024, it felt like a dream come true. But her excitement quickly turned to fear when doctors saw something alarming during her initial ultrasound: a large cyst on her right ovary
Azeez was ultimately told the cyst was cancerous was faced with a terrifying decision: to undergo surgery to remove the tumor while pregnant and risk her babies’ lives, or to wait until after she gave birth and risk her own life
‘I didn’t think anything of it. My mind was set on the fact that I was having twins, I could think of nothing else other than that,’ she continued.
‘I truly felt like the luckiest girl in the world, like the “chosen one.” Twins are a dream and I couldn’t believe that was my reality.’
Even so, her OBGYN suggested she see an oncologist, who insisted they run some tests to be sure.
‘[The oncologist] explained that there was [a small] chance that it was cancerous,’ Azeez explained.
‘But she said that because I was young and healthy, she really didn’t think I was going to be part of that [small percentage].
‘She said, just to be safe, we’re going to do all the testing and scans we need to completely rule it out.
‘If she didn’t make that decision to see it through I don’t know what my outcome would have been.
‘I left that appointment thinking, “Okay, this is probably just something they’ll take out, have a look at, and that’ll be that.”
Her twins – both girls – were born via C-section on October 4, 2024, weighing only two pounds and five ounces each
‘Or maybe it would even go away on its own by the time I gave birth. Cancer honestly wasn’t even on my radar at that point.’
The cyst initially measured nine centimeters and Azeez was told the plan of action was to keep an eye on it.
But as the pregnancy progressed, it rapidly grew in size, eventually reaching 19 centimeters.
‘The conversation shifted from, “Let’s monitor this and see what happens,” to, “We should probably get this out as soon as possible, because we don’t have time to wait until you give birth,”‘ she shared.
‘They still believed I probably wasn’t part of that one percent, but the feeling was very much, “We need to make sure.”
‘At that point, the priority became getting it out and finding out exactly what we were dealing with, rather than taking any chances and waiting.’
At 20 weeks, she was forced to make the ‘terrifying’ decision to go under the knife and get open abdominal surgery, despite the risks it posed to her twins.
‘We had no idea if the twins were going to be okay. There were no guarantees,’ she reflected.
‘The timing had to be just right. The twins needed to be developed enough to have a chance of getting through the surgery, but not so far along that the surgery would have a greater impact on them.
‘No one could promise me that the girls would be okay. We just hoped they would be. I knew I had an incredibly skilled team behind me, but we also knew we were taking a significant risk.’
Doctors removed the cyst, her right ovary and fallopian tube during the six-hour procedure. They also determined that it was indeed cancerous.
‘I was eerily calm. Was I scared? Yes. Was I sad? Yes. But I was calm,’ she recalled of her reaction to the news that it was cancer.
She started chemotherapy days later, and underwent extensive treatment from October through December
Doctors told her she needed to start treatment immediately, which she couldn’t do while pregnant so they recommended she give birth early.
‘I wanted to wait until I gave birth and deal with the cancer then. I wasn’t my priority – they were,’ Azeez added.
‘I felt fine aside from the usual pregnancy symptoms, so it was really hard to wrap my head around having to make these huge decisions when I didn’t actually feel sick.’
Despite her ‘fighting the doctors,’ she ultimately decided to give birth at 29 weeks so she could start treatment.
‘I wanted [to wait until] at least 32 weeks. In my head, every extra week meant more time for my babies to develop and be stronger,’ she explained.
‘But a team of people way smarter than me came up with a plan for exactly when I would need to give birth and start treatment to give all of us the best possible outcome.
‘I remember my oncologist, who I truly credit with saving my life, looking at me and saying, “Do you want to be around to watch your babies grow?”‘
Her twins – both girls – were born via C-section on October 4, 2024, weighing only two pounds and five ounces each.
During the C-section, doctors saw that the cancer had spread and immediately after she gave birth they rushed her into emergency surgery.
‘After a quick hello to my new babies, they were taken straight to the NICU, and my fiancé was escorted out of the OR. I was then put to sleep [and went into another surgery],’ she shared.
‘They performed an omentectomy and removed every visible trace of cancer they could see with the naked eye. My oncologist ended up telling me there was cancer everywhere lining my abdomen.’
She started chemotherapy days later, and underwent extensive treatment from October through December.
On December 30, 2024, she officially completed her treatment and she was declared cancer free soon after
Now, she is enjoying every minute with her twin daughters, who are now almost two years old
‘There were days where I felt like I was living two completely different lives. I’d be in the NICU being a mom, celebrating the little milestones with the girls, and then I’d have to leave and be gone for hours getting treatment and dealing with the side effects of chemo,’ Azeez recalled.
‘I think the hardest part was that I didn’t really have time to process any of it. Everything happened so quickly.
‘But the girls gave me something to focus on. They were the reason I kept going. I didn’t have the luxury of falling apart for very long because I had two little babies who needed me. Looking back, I think I just went into survival mode.’
On December 30, 2024, she officially completed her treatment and she was declared cancer free soon after.
Now, she is enjoying every minute with her twin daughters, who are now almost two years old.
‘Don’t wait for something life-changing to remind you how precious life is,’ she urged.
‘If there’s one thing cancer gave me, it’s an overwhelming sense of gratitude. As strange as that sounds, I wish everyone could experience that feeling. Not the cancer part, obviously, but the appreciation for life that comes after.
‘There is someone sitting in a chemo chair spending their day fighting for a second chance at life. If you have that, don’t let it go to waste.
‘Love your people. Take the trip. Be a good person. Live a life that is full and that you can be proud of, whether that’s something grand or something small. And never, ever take it for granted.’
