Tampa, Fla. — Norman and Alicia Harris’ life was well on the way to match the kissing poem — first comes love, then comes marriage... then comes the baby in the baby carriage. But prior to the baby carriage, there was an extra chapter in their love story. 

“She pretty much helped save my life, didn’t you?” said Alicia, lovingly looking at her 9-month-old daughter. 

Before their bundle of joy graced the world, Norman and Alicia met back during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. They found love when the world was locked down, and then by February 2021, they wasted no time and tied the knot on Valentine’s Day. Three months after that, Alicia was pregnant. 

Life was pure bliss, until their four-month checkup. Doctors found a lump in Alicia’s breast. She had breast cancer, and a high-risk type. 

“We say, ‘sickness and in health’ but we don’t always know that, especially that would be this soon within the first year of marriage, that it would be put to the test,” said Alicia. 

She made the choice to document her journey. She declared in a TikTok video, “Cancer, you will not bring me down.”

She worked every day to stay positive in a truly terrifying situation, pregnant with cancer. 

“It does make it a bit more challenging,” said Breast Oncology Surgeon Dr. Robert Gabordi of St. Joseph’s Women’s Hospitals.

Alicia knew she needed a good team of doctors, and ended up turning to BayCare. Dr. Gabordi and others developed a plan for her to deal with her diagnosis. 

“We were in a situation, we were like, ‘Hey what are we going to do?’ Can’t really do surgery right now, the baby, anesthesia risk, etc. So should we consider doing chemotherapy beforehand? Luckily, the date shows that in breast cancer and being pregnant, it is actually pretty well tolerated,” said Oncologist & Hematologist Dr. Luiz Marconcini of BayCare.

Alicia did two rounds of chemotherapy, and then she had a lumpectomy, all while pregnant. 

“The days when we used to do these aggressive surgeries because we didn’t think we had many options inter-operatively, those days are over,” said Dr. Gabordi. “Now we are able to do smaller surgeries and more precise surgeries.”

Alicia was nervous for all of it, especially doing chemo while pregnant, but Dr. Marconcini reassured both Alicia and Norman.

“You always have to be honest. You lay it out there, it is what it is, these are our options,” said Dr. Marconcini. “This is what I would do if it was me or my family member, because you want to A, obviously, protect the baby. B, what is going to save my life?” 

Breast cancer in pregnant and postpartum women occurs in about 1 in 3,000 pregnant women, according to cancer.gov.

“This went about as smoothly as it possibly could, given the circumstances,” said Dr. Gabordi. 

He says that, because while Alicia delivered her baby a month early, her little girl came out completely healthy. All Alicia needed now was a name. 

“I just kept saying when speaking to people, ‘my journey.’ Like, this ‘journey’ that I have been on. This journey, I am like… Journi!” she said with a smile. 

She named the little girl Journi Harris.

Journi was now safe, allowing Alicia to continue the more aggressive part of her treatment plan. She had to do more rounds of chemo, and then radiation. Luckily for Alicia, a new machine had just arrived that year at St. Joseph’s Hospital.  

“So what we are looking at are two projections of Alicia’s breast. One in what we call the cranial caudal direction, or top to bottom. And anther in what we call an oblique, or side to side,” said Radiation Therapy Medical Director Dr. Nitesh Paryani at St. Joseph’s Hospital.

Looking at Alicia’s X-rays, Dr. Paryani shows where they sent the radiation into Alicia’s breast using a PreciseRT machine. It allows radiation to be delivered to the breast, while sparing the heart and lungs from exposure. 

After multiple rounds, the cancer was gone. 

“The doctors that I had with me, I call guardian angels. It’s like my team of angels that helped me bring my baby here safely,” said Alicia. 

Alicia and Norman now leave the hospital each time grateful. 

“The story of true love, begins with love and it ends with love. And whatever comes along the way is handled, and love stands strong,” said Norman. “You can’t run from the moment, you can’t undermine the moment, you have to take it for what it is, but move forward with the love that it began with. As Shakespeare once said, ‘All is well that ends well.’” 

Alicia will take medication to hopefully keep the cancer away. She will take the medication for ten years. She will also be getting checkups for six months, and will need to get yearly mammograms. 

“Look, prevention is the name of the game. Prevention, prevention, prevention. I give chemo, I don’t want to give chemo,” said Dr. Marconcini. 

Most mammograms only take 15 minutes, and are almost always covered by insurance.