Woman Beats Terminal Brain Metastases from Breast Cancer, Gives Birth to Second Daughter

Maralee Lellio received a Stage II breast cancer diagnosis at age 29. Her oncologist recommended chemotherapy and surgery. The treatment proved tough, but Lellio kept her focus on having a second child for her 2-year-old daughter. She and her husband froze embryos before chemotherapy. She also had a double mastectomy. Doctors declared her cancer-free in September 2019, and the couple began IVF.

Progress halted when headaches and dizziness hit. Now 30, Lellio told her oncologist. A CT scan showed nothing unusual. She figured it might stem from IVF medications. But the headaches grew incapacitating. In summer 2020, a telehealth doctor sent her to the emergency room. An MRI there revealed a large brain tumor.

"They came back into the room where I was, and said 'We found a very large brain tumor ... and there's no cure, sorry,'" Lellio recalled. "And just left us. That's how I found out I had terminal cancer. It was awful."

Her original breast cancer had returned as Stage IV, spreading to her brain. Only about one in three Stage IV breast cancer patients survive more than five years, per the National Breast Cancer Foundation. The disease counts as incurable.

Lellio had a craniotomy to remove the tumor, but it regrew bigger. With options dwindling, her oncologist suggested the Cleveland Clinic. She switched care there and started radiation. The therapy triggered seizures and left her unable to walk. Depression set in, and she thought the end was near.

"I just accepted that I was dying and I wasn't going to get to see my daughter grow up, I wasn't going to ever get to have the second baby I'd always dreamed of, and that was it. That I could only hope for a couple of good years before I inevitably died," Lellio said.

She voiced those fears to a friend on a call. Her husband overheard.

"He said, 'You know, Maralee, it really makes me sad when you tell people and when you accept that you only have a couple of years left, because I think that you could survive this. We've seen stories of other people doing it. We know that it can happen, that there are unicorns out there, and I think that could be you,'" Lellio recalled. "It sounds so not special. I don't know the word for it. It was like somebody flipped a light switch on in my brain. So it was at that point I decided, 'I have to at least try.'"

Her Cleveland Clinic oncologist retired in spring 2021. Care shifted to Dr. Halle Moore. Lellio met Moore in July 2021 and brought optimism.

"As soon as I met Dr. Moore, I told her 'I understand that this is a very bad diagnosis, but I believe I'm going to live.' And she just said 'OK,'" Lellio said. Moore backed her wish for another child with no pushback.

Scans showed radiation had reduced Lellio's brain tumor to almost nothing. Moore prescribed a PARP inhibitor, a new treatment for cancers with certain genetic mutations. It stops cancer cells from repairing and growing. Lellio's tumor was BRCA-1 positive, and Moore noted PARP inhibitors work well against those.

Lellio took the inhibitor for two years and stayed free of active cancer, Moore said. Lellio then asked if she could stop it to try pregnancy. Moore approved, with counseling and a one-year wait.

"I was ready to move on and see if I could be cancer-free and have a baby," Lellio said.

After the wait, Lellio conceived without IVF. In July 2024, she and her husband welcomed a second daughter. Life since has felt "messy, and stressful, and perfect," Lellio said.

"I absolutely love it," she said. "I am so grateful. It just feels like gushing. I hold her when we're going to bed at night, and I just thank God. I thank everything. I'm so beyond grateful to have my two beautiful girls."

Lellio keeps up with Moore for regular scans. She has a hysterectomy planned soon to cut cancer risk. Moore called the case proof that "cancer doesn't always read the textbooks," and people with dire outlooks can do extraordinarily well, particularly with new treatments.

Lellio teaches again and plans to mark Mother's Day by celebrating her path. "It just feels like nothing could be more perfect," she said. "I think I'm more grateful for life and all the little stresses and the little things now than I ever would have been if I hadn't had to fight for my life back."