CLEVELAND -- Imagine what it would be like to give birth, and hours later find out you have breast cancer.

As part of our Loving Partners project, NewsChannel5's Alicia Booth reported on a Medina woman's ordeal and what people can learn from it.

Life at Dawn Hartwell's house was near perfect about two years ago, until she and her husband, Dave, were hit with a bombshell.

"Everything was going wonderfully and then to hit that huge pothole in our lives was unbelievable," Dave Hartwell said.

Forty-eight hours after giving birth, Dawn Hartwell (pictured, left) learned she had breast cancer.

Doctors found it because of complications during breast-feeding.

She was floored to learn she had something she thought would never touch her.

"It's happening so much; I thought I was fairly safe not having a history of it in my family, but what I think I've learned is that nobody's safe," she said.

That's why doctors said it's important for women to do self-exams while they're pregnant.

"Doing your own breast self-examinations allows you to become more aware of what was there last month and what wasn't there last month," said Dr. Beth Overmoyer, of University Hospitals.

Women can undergo chemotherapy if the cancer is caught later in the term, without any risk to the baby.

Dawn Hartwell started her chemotherapy shortly after her son, Steven, was born. She was surprised to learn that breast cancer doesn't have to keep a mother from breast-feeding.

"The breast cancer cells don't pass through the milk to the baby," she said. "The baby does not get infected with the cancer if the baby is breast-feeding in a breast that has cancer."

The Hartwells are now going on with their lives as if the cancer had never happened. They are happy to see their children grow up, knowing it was Steven who helped his mom find her breast cancer.

"He basically saved her life," Dave Hartwell said.

Get information by calling University Hospitals' Ireland Cancer Center's free hot line at (800) 641-2422.