Worldwide, there are only 35 babies like Talia Zoe, who have survived chemotherapy while in their mother's womb, say the mother's gynaecologists.

In October 2007, 27-year-old Fiona Donnelly, a housewife from Glenwood in Pietermaritzburg, was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph system (part of the body's immune structure).

Symptoms of the cancer first started showing after she spent a day at a Gauteng spa.

"On my way back from the spa, I felt these lumps come up on my neck. They were huge and two were visible in a matter of minutes. I brushed it off and told my husband it could be stress-related," said Donnelly. Her husband, Bruce, a supermarket manager at the Liberty Midlands Mall, agreed.

She was jobless after her contract at the department of agriculture was not renewed.

The couple have three other children: Mykle,nine, Angelo, seven, and Shilho, two.

On October 8, Fiona stopped breathing briefly and collapsed at a relative's funeral. Her doctor ordered tests and Fiona was admitted to hospital after several lumps were found in her chest.

She was diagnosed as having Hodgkins Lymphoma and chemotherapy began.

Initially she received treatment in Durban but in December began care under Dr Zirk Jansen in Pietermaritzburg.

Chemotherapy was resumed as Jansen had discovered a new tumour.

"Dr Jansen sat my husband and I down and advised us that I was going to be extremely ill. He advised me that I would not be able to have any more children as my ovaries would be affected," she said.

As with most cancer patients, Fiona lost her hair and endured great pain and discomfort during chemotherapy and afterwards.

"I was upbeat throughout it all, knowing I had to get better - I had three children to take care of," said Fiona.

Then in April, Fiona became despondent after she felt "a ball rolling in my tummy".

"I went to Dr Jansen as I thought the cancer had spread to my uterus. The doctor felt my tummy and agreed there was something there. He asked me what I felt and I told him that perhaps it could be a baby.

"He said the possibility of having a child after chemotherapy was remote. When I told him I was suffering morning sickness, he said it was a side-effect of the chemotherapy. No one thought I could be pregnant under the circumstances.

"When I went home, I asked my husband to feel my tummy. He was convinced it was another tumour."

A month later an ultrasound revealed to an astounded Fiona and her doctors that she was five-and-a-half-months pregnant.

Doctors advised her to terminate the pregnancy. They felt there was no chance of the baby surviving or being normal. Chemotherapy in the first trimester of a pregnancy poses a risk of birth defects.

Since chemotherapy drugs interfere with cell growth and division, the foetus is most vulnerable during the first trimester when many of the internal and external structures of the foetus are formed.

"They told me the effects of chemotherapy are harsh. If it could make my hair and teeth fall out, imagine what it could have done to my baby.

"Nonetheless, I had more tests and scans done to check on my baby's condition and from that we saw she appeared to be normal. I decided to continue with the pregnancy. My doctors supported me," said Fiona.

Dealing with the knowledge that she was pregnant was one of the hardest things she has had to do.

"Accepting my cancer was easier than accepting I was pregnant. I was scared. I kept wondering what was going to happen to my baby if I died. I was, and am, not sure how long I am going to live. I was scared my baby could have been abnormal. I thought 'what if my baby was a cabbage and I would be gone' I questioned God as to why he gave me this child and the cancer," said a tearful Fiona.

In week 30 of her pregnancy, her gynaecologists, Dr David Swan and Dr James Parkes, noticed her baby was not growing. They put her on steroids to aid the baby's growth so they could deliver her as soon as possible. Chemotherapy had stopped.

Four weeks later, on July 25, Fiona was taken to hospital. Swan found her placenta had ruptured and the cord was tangled around the baby's neck.

Talia Zoe was born later that night by Caesarean section, weighing 1.5kg.

Whisked off by her paediatrician, Dr Mohammed Jooma, Talia Zoe was examined and found to be in perfect condition.

She spent two weeks in an incubator and was discharged weighing a thriving 1,8kg.

The doctors are still baffled that the chemotherapy did not affect her.

"She is a perfectly normal baby girl. The baby was given to me to give me hope, to give others hope, to show others that cancer is not the end of the world," said Fiona.

Swan described Talia Zoe's birth as a medical wonder. "It's unusual to fall pregnant while receiving chemotherapy.

"It is even more unusual for a baby to do well despite the mother receiving really strong medicine... It was a wonderful thing to happen," he said.

Although in remission, Fiona continues to undergo radiation therapy for her cancer, but is fit and well and enjoying her baby.