A firsthand description looks back at a trying pregnancy in 1995 and the belief system that continues to influence a growing household three decades afterwards.
Leilani Losehina Tukuafu is making public her family’s account through “A Legacy of Faith”—a firsthand reflection that examines her mother’s breast cancer diagnosis while pregnant, the doubt encircling Leilani’s own arrival, and the spiritual beliefs that supported her parents.
The narrative revisits 1995, the year Tukuafu’s mother was found to have breast cancer when she was three months along. As the family recalls, physicians advised ending the gestation and proceeding with breast surgery, cautioning that postponing treatment could place both the mother and the child in danger.
Already caring for two young kids, her parents were given a week to arrive at a choice. Tukuafu recounts a period devoted to prayer, abstaining from food, and tough conversations as they examined the medical counsel in light of their firmly held convictions.
Their final decision was to carry the pregnancy to term. In her narrative, Tukuafu acknowledges the dread, restless evenings, and bodily suffering that came with that selection.
Throughout the pregnancy, her mother journeyed from New Zealand to America to see relatives, initially in Sacramento, California, and afterwards in Salt Lake City, Utah. While staying in Utah, she experienced a strong impression to go to the Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Accompanied by her young son, she asked for an audience with the temple president, George I. Cannon, and to obtain a blessing. Tukuafu relates that her mother described her diagnosis and the doubt she was confronting.
According to the narrative, President Cannon gave a blessing that conveyed comfort, family, and the chance for additional children. Her mother instantly telephoned her husband in Auckland to inform him of what had taken place.
“As long as we remain close to our Heavenly Father, we will be fine,” her father told her, as remembered in Tukuafu’s account.
After returning to New Zealand, her mother continued to undergo considerable discomfort as her expected date in December drew near. On December 25, 1995, she went to the hospital but was informed that it was not yet the right time to give birth.
The next day, December 26, Leilani Losehina Tukuafu was delivered at the family residence in Māngere, Auckland. Her father dialed for an ambulance, and both mother and baby were taken to the hospital. They came home a few days afterwards.
Tukuafu says that later medical checks found no detectable cancer in her mother, though doctors warned that it might come back. She considers the circumstances surrounding her birth as a profoundly personal occasion of faith and thankfulness.
Three decades later, her parents have eight children—five daughters and three sons—including the five children born after Leilani. The family now also has six grandchildren.
“We are so thankful to our Father in Heaven for his ongoing blessings,” Tukuafu writes.
Through “A Legacy of Faith,” she contemplates how her parents’ journey formed her own trust in God and Jesus Christ. Her narrative acknowledges the hardship of life’s challenges while expressing the strength she discovers in prayer, family, and her bond with her Saviour.
She ends with a note for others dealing with uncertainty: “You are not by yourself!”
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