Briana and James Cox had only had their baby girl Addison a few weeks when they got some terrible news: Briana had stage IV metastatic melanoma. Her prognosis was bad, and the couple worried that it might have spread to their newborn daughter while Briana was pregnant with her. The doctors assured them that was unheard of, that it couldn't happen. But they were wrong. They soon found out that Briana's cancer had, in fact, infected Addison. (It's incredibly rare to pass cancer in utero. This is only the ninth time something like this has happened since 2003.) So now the baby also has stage IV cancer, which had spread to her brain, heart, liver, and elsewhere.
It's hard to imagine anything more heartbreaking, but unfortunately, it gets worse. (Warning: It's extra Kleenex time.) On February 12th, Briana lost her battle with the melanoma, and now James is left to care for his ailing daughter alone. She's being given chemo that required special FDA approval, which is giving them a little hope. But still they don't expect her to survive more than 18 months. Oh, the sadness—and it's especially hard to believe because she looks so lively. Let's just hope that since she started out with such bad luck, Addison will have nothing but good luck on her side from here on out.
Mom passes stage IV cancer to baby: Report [CBS]