Corina Hofmann from Südergellersen in Lower Saxony has terminal cancer – and is pregnant. Your most important asset: time. But she has to fight for them – also against official hurdles.
by Kim Laura Runde and Shari Jung
In May 2020 Corina Hofmann gets the first diagnosis: breast cancer. Several surgeries and chemotherapy followed. Then the 40-year-old gets the next bad news during a rehabilitation stay: a new cancer has formed in the lymph nodes under the armpits. New treatments and a second chemotherapy follow. The hope for a cure is there, especially after a surprisingly positive pregnancy test. “You automatically get into menopause through chemotherapy. We then assumed that that would no longer work. I had no more rules, no more,” says the social worker in the RTL interview.
Between life and death © Corina Hofmann / RTL News
After many examinations it is clear: the baby is healthy. The 40-year-old decides against further cancer treatments and for her unborn son. “I’ve already heard the heartbeat, you can see a foot or sometimes a hand. And then thinking about letting the child die? At what cost? This idea of going to the hospital and saying: ‘Well, now you have to die ‘I’m taking some medicine.’ I don’t think the rest of my life would have been nice then,” she tells us. And further: “On the one hand, you deal with death and what it means to die. And on the other hand, life grows in you. Even if I’m no longer there at some point, there’s still something of me there. We already have a daughter . That’s something beautiful in the stupid time.”
The statistics say one to three years: “Of course that scares me”
Corina Hofmann suffers from what is known as triple-negative breast cancer. A particularly fast-growing and aggressive species that spreads throughout the body via the lymph nodes. “Since some cancer drugs that are otherwise often used for breast cancer are not effective here, this form of breast cancer is more difficult to treat. Triple negative breast cancer occurs more frequently in women with hereditary problems,” says the German Cancer Society.
And that also applies to Corina Hofmann. Her condition is hereditary – she has the so-called BRCA1 gene: “Women who have a BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation are more likely to develop breast and/or ovarian cancer. If they do develop it, it is often earlier than usual – i.e. before the age of 50,” the German Cancer Society continues. “I know that you die of organ failure. I know that I don’t think it will be that nice in the end. Of course that scares me. Well, I don’t believe in life after death, which of course makes it more difficult ,” says Corina Hofmann.
Too little parental allowance due to sick leave © Corina Hofmann / RTL News
Time plays a special role in Corina’s life. She would prefer to spend as much time as possible with her family and take a year of parental leave after the birth. The social worker is currently going to work, just as she did during her first chemotherapy. In total, the 40-year-old was on sick leave for ten months. She only has four months to calculate parental allowance. “It’s the third illness and my nerves are on edge, but I can’t take sick leave, even though I’m sick. Because I have to persevere to even get some parental allowance,” says Corina.
The parental allowance of around 500 euros is not enough for the family of four from Südergellersen, even if Corina’s husband works full-time. Normally, when calculating the parental allowance, the average monthly net earned income of the last twelve calendar months before the birth of the child is used. “If you are on child-related sick leave during pregnancy, then the parental allowance is calculated quite normally. But if you are on sick leave because of other things, such as depression or cancer, that doesn’t apply. I would like it to be different,” according to the social worker.
That says the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs
But why is there a difference in the type of illness when calculating parental allowance? When asked by RTL, the Federal Family Center explains: “Loss of income due to life risks that lie outside the scope of protection of the Federal Parental Allowance and Parental Leave Act cannot be taken into account in a special way when calculating parental allowance (…). Because when drafting legal regulations, the Legislators do not take into account all conceivable life situations with special exception regulations. (…) In doing so, it is unavoidable to make typifications, such as restricting the exclusion rule to cases of an illness essentially caused by pregnancy.”
Corina Hofmann cannot understand this regulation. After all, she is not the only woman in such a situation: “I would like politicians to have a hardship solution or regulation.”
time thanks to donations © Corina Hofmann / RTL News
Corina Hofmann is preparing to go back to work after the birth when two friends come up with the idea of starting an appeal for donations on the internet. “Because I just think it’s terrible that when you already have so many issues to deal with, there’s also so much financial pressure,” says friend Lena Schmidt.
The goal of the fundraiser: collect enough money to give Corina a year of parental leave. The sum is now so high that the 40-year-old can even take two years of parental leave: “That’s the greatest gift that could be achieved for me and in my situation.” Corina is a realist and remains positive despite her blows of fate: “I wish that I had more time than the three years that the statistics say. I wish that the medication would work. More time to enjoy life, more time to be without pain.” And above all more time with her family.