Jenna Hinman, a Syracuse, N.Y., mother who learned she had a rare placental cancer just after delivering twin girls last month, died Monday of complications of pneumonia, according to the hospital that treated her. 
 
 "We are heartbroken and our hearts go out to her family," Crouse Hospital spokesman Bob Allen told ABCNews.com today. "She touched so many people from around the country." 
 
 Hinman, 26, gave birth March 3 to Kinleigh Ann Hinman and Azlynn Mary Hinman by emergency C-section only to have doctors immediately discover she was battling stage 3 choriocarcinoma. The twins, who were delivered premature at 30 weeks (2 pounds, 9 ounces, and 3 pounds, 6 ounces, respectively), remained in the neonatal intensive care unit for six weeks, but today are thriving, according to her Facebook support page, Prayers for Jenna 
 
 Courtesy of Sarah Born 
 
 "Jenna did not lose her battle with cancer," her friends wrote on that page. "She beat the cancer in a way almost no one ever does. The type of cancer she had almost always claims the life of the child, not the parent. Jenna sacrificed herself to save her two children. She defeated the cancer before it ever hurt the two most beloved people to her in the world. She fulfilled her role as a mother in a way almost no one else could have. Her body took the blow and saved her children." 
 
 Since being discharged from the hospital's Walter R.G. Baker Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the twins have been living with their maternal grandparents while their father serves his military duty. 
 
 Mom fights for life with rare placenta cancer. 
 
 Prayers for Jenna/Facebook 
 
 Choriocarcinoma is a malignant form of gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD), tumors that involve abnormal growth of cells inside a woman's uterus. This particular kind affects only about 2 to 7 of every 100,000 pregnancies in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. 
 
 Choriocarcinoma is much more likely than other kinds of GTD to grow quickly and spread to organs away from the uterus. About one-quarter of women who develop this disease miscarry. 
 
 Hinman had been fighting for her life in a medically induced coma for the past two months as the rare cancer filled her lungs with tumors. 
 
 Dr. David Landsberg, chief of medicine for Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, told ABCNews.com in March that Hinman's cancer was serious but "curable." 
 
 Her husband, U.S. Army Sgt. Brandon Hinman, told ABCNews.com at the time, "We're hanging in there," as his wife endured chemotherapy and ECMO, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation therapy. Hinman is stationed at Fort Drum in Watertown, N.Y. 
 
 "She's probably the most kind-hearted person I ever met," Hinman said of his wife. "She would go out of her way for anyone, give them the shirt off her back." 
 
 The couple had difficulty getting pregnant because of his multiple deployments to Europe and Afghanistan. "We never had a solid amount of time together," he said. 
 
 But just before another deployment, they got the good news. "I got to stay back," he said. "It was amazing." 
 
 Just last weekend, Syracuse photographer Sarah Born did a photo shoot of the Hinman twins with their father and grandparents. Jenna Hinman was unable to attend, but helped Born select the theme for the shoot, choosing a pink backdrop for one, as it was her favorite color. 
 
 Another photo incorporated peach, the color for choriocarcinoma, and a third was against the U.S. flag, a nod to the family's patriotism. 
 
 Updates on Jenna Hinman's progress had been positive, but the family posted an urgent update to their Facebook page Sunday to say that her condition was deteriorating. 
 
 Friends who are running the page called for an emergency prayer request. 
 
 "Her vital signs have become unstable over the past 12 hours and her ventilator has been turned all the way up," they wrote. "There is speculation of infection and/or internal bleeding," according to the update posted at 10:53 a.m. Sunday. 
 
 They posted that night that she had developed pneumonia. 
 
 "Jenna is now on powerful medication to fight this infection and we will keep you updated as often as possible," the update stated. "Please continue to pray that Jenna's lungs will clear and heal quickly. Jenna's condition tonight is fragile and critical - she has fought valiantly thus far, and we truly believe she has a lot of fight left in her still." 
 
 The Syracuse Post-Standard, in an editorial today, wrote, "Thousands upon thousands" of people around the country rallied for the Hinmans. 
 
 "They sent messages of hope and inspiration," according to the piece. "They donated money. Many cried at Monday's news that Jenna had died. We didn't know her, but her story touched the essential fiber that makes us human, makes us care for those beset by troubles we can't imagine. Here, in the happiest moment of a family's life together, the birth of children, comes the saddest news of all." 
 
 The family has a GoFundMe. fund set up to raise money for their expenses associated with the ordeal. ||||| A Torquay mother who went into hospital to give birth woke up from an induced coma five days later - to find both of her legs amputated. 
 
 Ella Clarke, 31, woke up in her hospital bed prepared to savour a moment she had waiting nine months to cherish. 
 
 But instead of holding her baby girl, Winter Rose, doctors delivered news that would turn her world upside down. 
 
 Surgeons had been forced to amputate both of Ella's legs due to complications and an alleged NHS blunder. 
 
 The mother-of-eight, who was having her sixth C-section, had just spent five days in an induced coma after losing six litres of blood due to a dangerous complication called placenta accreta - which can be common with women who have had c-sections in the past. 
 
 Doctors performed an emergency hysterectomy and five blood transfusions - which in almost all cases of placenta accreta is required to save the mother's life. 
 
 Ella, from Torquay, was placed into an induced coma and transferred to intensive care where doctors had to monitor her hourly for the next 24 hours as she was prone to clotting. 
 
 But it is claimed doctors forgot to check her and six hours had passed before she was seen. 
 
 By this point, Ella's legs had clotted and circulation had stopped. She was immediately rushed into theatre where two surgeons battled to recover circulation in both her legs - but it was too late. 
 
 Ella has now spoken of the traumatic, life-changing incident in December 2015. 
 
 She said: "Going into hospital to have a baby should have been the best moment of my life. 
 
 "I had no idea what was going on. I was put to sleep for the c-section and then put immediately into an induced coma when things started to go wrong. 
 
 "I remember the moment I woke up. I thought I was waking up from my C-section. I expected my beautiful little baby girl to be passed to me. I had no idea I'd been in a coma 
 
 "Instead I was told doctors had amputated my legs after complications with my C-section. 
 
 "But the reality of the situation soon started to hit home when Winter Rose was placed in my arms and my restricted future flashed before me." 
 
 Ella and her partner Ian Ross, 32, now face a challenging future - and the full-time mother will be bound to a wheelchair. 
 
 She said: "I'm now sleeping downstairs in the living room and trying to get used to walking with prosthetic legs, but it's challenging. 
 
 "I'm having counselling to cope with the shock but my whole life has changed forever. 
 
 "I went from being an active mum to instantly wheelchair bound. I couldn't stop crying. 
 
 "My five year old couldn't look at me without a blanket on because she was scared and my eldest daughter starting falling behind at school. 
 
 "My family was falling apart and I was helpless." 
 
 Solicitors are now acting on Ella's behalf to launch legal action against the NHS trust, which has apologised. 
 
 She said: "I was an active mum doing the school runs and chasing my family around the garden. 
 
 "Now I'm the complete opposite. 
 
 "I might never be able to run after my children, or stand next to them. No human being should ever have to experience this after it could have so easily been avoided. 
 
 "I finally got my apology, but it was five months too late. I have eight children to look after, what life can I have now? 
 
 "This has impacted us far worse than you can ever imagine." 
 
 A spokesman for Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust said: "We would like to offer our sympathy to Ms C. We are carrying out a full and thorough investigation and at this time it is not appropriate for us to make further comment. 
 
 "We are in regular discussion with Ms C and her partner to ensure they are kept up to date." 
 
 Return to the Herald Express homepage or read more Torquay news. 
 
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– Jenny Purvis calls her daughter "Miracle Mae," and with good reason: In giving her daughter life, the Georgia woman had her own life saved. Mary Ella "Mae" Purvis was due in September, but a 27-week doctor visit in June revealed that the 29-year-old mom-to-be had elevated blood pressure. Doctors at Savannah's Memorial Health University Medical Center diagnosed her with preeclampsia, and an ultrasound showed the blood flow had been cut off to the placenta. Doctors decided an emergency C-section was needed. Mae was born safely on June 16, weighing 2 pounds 8 ounces—but Purvis' doctor also discovered that the "cysts" that they had been monitoring were something else entirely. Purvis writes that her doctors initially thought the cysts "were of no concern" and were even "getting smaller." Immediately after birth, two sizable tumors and much of Purvis' ovaries were removed, and even then "we were initially assured that it would most likely not be anything to worry about." The prognosis came back four weeks later: ovarian cancer. Though it was a rare form, Purvis learned that the rate of successful treatment is "higher." What followed was chemotherapy—four rounds, with two more to come. She'll then have a hysterectomy, and, hopefully, return to teaching around the new year. As for the baby, who left the hospital Aug. 25, "She came to save her Mama," Purvis tells the Statesboro Herald. "Whenever we call her Miracle Mae, she just grins." A yearlong gun raffle is being held to help with the family's expenses. (Click for the heart-wrenching story of a mother who died so her baby could live.)