My acute myeloid leukemia (AML) diagnosis was devastating -- not just because I feared for my life, but also because I was seven months pregnant at the time. It felt like the world was ending, like my life was shattered in a matter of seconds.

I didn’t want to start chemotherapy during my pregnancy, but it was much too early to be induced and I needed to start treatment right away. Fortunately, the night before I was scheduled...