While life can be inspiringly beautiful at times, it can also be bitterly cruel. It’s part of what makes it such a journey, I guess, the unpredictability of it all.

Brianna Rawlings was 18-years-old, 17-weeks pregnant, and looking forward to becoming a mom, when she was dealt a devastatingly harsh blow.

Doctors diagnosed the teenager with a rare and aggressive blood cancer, NK cell leukemia. Before that, all signs of leukemia were simply passed off by hospitals and doctors as “pregnancy related symptoms.”

Brianna revealed in an interview with Femail – as per the Daily Mail – : “Those 12 days I was able to spend with my baby boy Kyden, holding him, counting his toes and fingers and talking to him like I would when he was in my tummy. They were just so special, they were the best 12 days of my life!”