Woman dies after refusing cancer treatment to give birth to her son

• Azzurra Carnelos, from Oderzo, Italy, passed away in her home on 11 April 
• READ MORE: I realised the baby I was caring for in hospital was not my daughter during a nappy change after a midwife handed me the wrong baby

A 33-year-old mother has passed away after refusing cancer treatment so she could give birth to her first child.

Azzurra Carnelos, 33, from Oderzo, Italy, died from breast cancer last week, leaving behind her eight-month-old son, Antonio.

The mother-of-one, who was a senior financial analyst at a bank, was first diagnosed in 2019 after a premonitory dream prompted her to get checked.

Her mother, Antonella, told La Tribuna di Treviso: ‘She’d dreamt of her grandmother, who’d passed away in the same way. She was telling her to get checked.’

Azzurra began chemotherapy shortly after, which put her breast cancer in remission, making it seem as though her she had overcome the disease.

Azzurra Carnelos (pictured), 33, from Oderzo, Italy, passed away from breast cancer after refusing treatment so that she could give birth to her child

In February last year, she received the unexpected news that she was pregnant. However, by July, her cancer had returned.

‘She faced the discovery with courage, she rolled up her sleeves,’ Azzurra’s husband Francesco told La Republica.

Her doctors advised her to start chemotherapy again, but Azzurra chose to delay the treatment so she could carry her baby to term and told her husband that ‘life must be defended’.

Francesco left his job to care for his wife and lived at the hospital, having all of his meals and sleeping there.

He told La Repubblica: ‘I left my job to be by her side 24 hours a day. I lived in the hospital, I slept there, I ate there.

‘She faced every moment with courage and conviction,’ he said. ‘I still remember her smile when our baby started saying “mommy”. She was happy like this, despite everything. With her sacrifice she gave us life.

‘Until the end we talked about how to raise our Antonio.’

After Azzurra gave birth, she quickly resumed cancer treatment, but by then it was too late.

She passed away in her home in Oderzo on 13 April. Her funeral took place today at Oderzo Cathedral.

Azzurra was an economics and business management graduate who worked in a bank as a senior financial analyst.

The financial analyst started therapy after she had given birth to her son, but by then it was too late

The 33-year-old’s funeral took place today at a cathedral in Azzurra’s hometown of Oderzo in Italy

She tied the knot with her husband, Francesco, in February. Their infant boy, Antonio, was her only child. Azzurra has also left behind a father and two brothers.

Her mother Antonella added: ‘When she [Azzurra] had that dream, it was as if her grandmother had warned her to seek treatment immediately to later allow her to become a mother.’

It comes after a mother who mistook a whirring sound in her right ear for tinnitus was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Denise Wingfield, 55, struggled to sleep because of the dull, ‘funny’ noise and was referred to an ear, nose and throat specialist, who told her she had tinnitus.

But following an MRI, doctors found an anomaly on her brain and a month later Denise underwent a nine hour awake craniotomy.

After the procedure, the mother-of-three from Bristol was diagnosed with grade 2 oligodendroglioma – a rare brain tumour.

Ms Wingfield had a further surgery following complications from the craniotomy, as well as six weeks of radiotherapy and four rounds of chemotherapy.

She is still being monitored by doctors today after a recent scan in January 2024 showed the tumour had grown.

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