CLEVELAND -- Having a baby should be one of the happiest moments a woman can celebrate.

But NewsChannel5's Alicia Booth reported that what one local woman learned about her pregnancy created a life-and-death decision.

As tears flow from Vetrie Tolbert's face, it's hard to imagine the battle she's been waging to give life and save her own at the same time.

"People with cancer -- it's hard, really hard," she said.

Tolbert's medical journey began two years ago, when she was 24.

Doctors found a cancerous tumor in her chest that was caused by a rare lung cancer. The tumor was removed, radiation and chemotherapy followed and she was cancer-free for six months.

But then Tolbert and her husband, Jessie, learned that the tumor was back -- not in one, but in two places.

In addition, the couple had an unexpected surprise: Vetrie Tolbert was two months pregnant.

"It was a combination of the greatest news we would ever want to hear and 'Oh God, here we go again,'" she said.

But rather than have an abortion, the couple chose to shrink the tumor with radiation six months into the pregnancy. Surgeons shielded the baby and attacked the tumor dead on.

Vetrie Tolbert's doctor said that some women with cancer choose abortion before learning the facts.

"Infants and developing fetuses after certain stages of development are highly resistant to chemotherapy (and) highly resistant to radiation therapy, provided it's given correctly," her doctor said.

Jaylen Tolbert, a bouncing baby boy, arrived on July 4. The Tolberts have advice for other couples going through the same thing.

"Pregnant women with cancer can have babies," Vetrie Tolbert said. "And you have to follow your heart and you have to follow your beliefs and believe that things will be OK."

Doctors said that women who are pregnant with cancer should evaluate all of their options, because there are often treatments that can save their babies.