Nearly three months after welcoming his son, the "Sweet Home Alabama" star Josh Luca revealed a deep secret.
His wife Jessica Henriquez has cervical cancer.
After meeting the freelance writer and falling in love in 2011, the 41-year-old actor confirmed their engagement in January. The couple tied the knot in March and announced the baby news a few days after the marriage.
Henriquez was detected with cervical cancer at 25. But, Lucas was the first one she shared the news. With Lucas' support, Henriquez started treatment, but ended up in failure. Hysterectomy was the next option she had. But, to add to their worries, Henriquez became pregnant.
"I hadn't thought about children," she told the Huffington Post. "It wasn't my dream since I was a little girl to have a family. But when a doctor looks you in the eyes and takes that option off the table, it immediately sets something off in you -- this motherhood gene."
Though the risk was higher, she decided to proceed with her pregnancy and gave birth June 29 in New York. Noah Rev Lucas weighed nine pounds, four ounces at birth.
"If the cancer has progressed because I did nothing for a year to contain it or treat it, I don't feel any guilt, and I don't feel like it was a bad decision," Henriquez told People magazine. "Every morning that I wake up with Josh and Noah, I'm even more assured that it was the right decision for me."
The cancer has developed from stage 1A to stage 1B. However, arrival of their son brought some peace in their lives.
"When we were picking baby names, we specifically picked the name Noah, because it meant 'calm and restful,'" she explained to People. "We were like, 'Wow, that's what we need.' We need something in our life that's just going to be so peaceful, because we haven't had that since we've been together."
