When Lacey Radecki, early in her second pregnancy, was suffering constant unremitting nausea, she consulted her doctor.

Her physician is Dr. Nicole Comer at Powell Valley Healthcare. What Radecki was dealing with wasn’t morning sickness.

“I was [sick] all the time,” she said. “I couldn’t even keep water down.”

She knew, too, that normal morning sickness wasn’t at that level of extreme illness. Comer, for her part, did not discount the symptoms, but launched a series of tests that included ultrasounds.

What she found through the testing, Radecki said, was a molar pregnancy. It is a very rare condition — about a one in 1,000 chance — and may be caused by an abnormally fertilized ovum. According to the Mayo Clinic website, a molar pregnancy may seem like a normal pregnancy at first, but most cause specific signs and symptoms, including severe nausea and vomiting. There is no chance for a successful outcome.

Once the ultrasound was completed and Comer had viewed the test information, she consulted another doctor in Billings about the results. Then the doctor had to break the news to Radecki.

“She [Comer] said she was very sorry, and told me the condition was very rare. Then she started crying because she knew how much we wanted this baby,” Radecki said.

But that was not to be. If a molar pregnancy is not treated or miscarried completely, it can progress, with a persistent growth of abnormal tissue or a tumor spreading into the uterine wall.

“I may have died if Dr. Comer hadn’t caught it,” Radecki said.

“She had a placenta full of cysts,” said her mother, Jennifer Ivanov. “That toxic placenta had to be removed.”

A second doctor undertook the surgery, but Comer was still very much a part of Radecki’s care.

“She was absolutley amazing. She came to see me the morning of the surgery. She held my hand and hugged me. She said ‘You are going to get through this,’” Radecki recalled.

After that sad day in December, Radecki has had to undergo weekly tests to determine whether the hCG levels in her blood are dropping. A continued high level of the hormone can signal that the toxic tissue has continued to grow or is re-establishing itself. Because of the life-threatening nature of the toxicity, a spike in the hCG levels could require additional surgery or treatment with multiple rounds of chemotherapy.

Dr. Comer told Radecki there was nothing she did to cause the ordeal, nor was there anything she could have done to prevent it. But because of the risks, she and her husband have decided when they are ready to try for another child, they will either adopt or use a surrogate mother.

What is important to Radecki now is that Comer be recognized for the level of care and concern she offered to her patient on what was one of the worst days of her life.

“I want her to have that recognition because she’s just so amazing,” Radecki said. Several of her friends and family members who are medical professionals had not even heard of the condition until Radecki became ill, because it is that rare.

“The doctor was just so persistent in testing to find out what was wrong,” Ivanov said. “She saved my daughter’s life.”

The Centers for Disease Control estimate more than 1 million pregnancies are lost through miscarriage or stillbirth each year. For immediate grief support, call 1-800-221-7437. Counselors are available 24/7 at this hotline for families who have suffered the loss of a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth, fetal or early infant death.