New Dad Gets Health Update After Being Diagnosed with Incurable Cancer (Exclusive)

Maggie Hanratty was anxiously anticipating the arrival of her first child with husband Eddie Hanratty when they ended up in the hospital for another reason.

Eddie, then 30, was diagnosed with a grade 3 astrocytoma — a fast-growing malignant brain tumor.

When speaking with PEOPLE back in January, the couple explained that doctors found a tumor measuring 7.3 centimeters — roughly the size of an orange — and it required intensive surgery while Maggie was 34 weeks pregnant. 

When Eddie told Maggie that he was being sent to the hospital after his MRI, she “thought he was kidding at first,” unable to comprehend how their life could take such a drastic turn.

In June 2024, one week after that MRI, Eddie underwent a craniotomy, a surgical procedure that requires the removal of a section of the skull to access the brain. Removing portions of the tumor also required the removal of some of Eddie’s frontal lobe. Doctors were able to remove about 98% of the tumor, but warned that, due to the extensive surgery, Eddie might be different. 

“He wakes up and he’s the same person. We’re crying because he’s the same, already making jokes, as soon as he wakes up,” Maggie recalls while sharing an update with PEOPLE. “It was a long recovery.”

Still, Maggie says Eddie, now 32, was given a prognosis of “up to eight years.”

“He was 30 years old at the time, and we were trying to figure out what he needed to do. We met his oncologist, and he said he needed to do chemo and radiation because they got 98% of the tumor but didn’t want to go any deeper and mess up anything in his brain,” she explains. “They think they got everything, but there are some cancer cells you can’t see.”

His doctor recommended he do chemotherapy and radiation at the same time for six weeks, which proved to be really harsh on the body. After six weeks of the combined treatment, he did six months of chemotherapy pills. 

Maggie, 34, is happy to share that he finished his treatment in April 2025 and is now showing “stable scans,” meaning the current treatment is working by keeping the cancer under control, with no signs of the disease spreading.

Although he didn’t have a lot of side effects while going through the treatment, she says he feels the impact now.  

“Sometimes he’s really tired one day or he’s really nauseous one day. It’s going to happen probably for the next year until it’s fully out of his body, but he’s been doing great,” Maggie shares.

Maggie also notes that, since the surgery impacted his right frontal lobe, Eddie is “more emotional now.” 

“He gets easily frustrated. He was not a very emotional person, but now he’s highly emotional and gets stressed out really quickly, so he’s been in therapy to help him through that,” she shares. “But other than that, he’s been doing great. We’ve been trying to live life and try to do as much as we can and try to live positively.”  

Just two weeks after he underwent surgery, the couple’s baby, Mila, was born. Their daughter is now 14 months old, and Maggie says “she’s the best thing that ever happened to us.” 

“She was meant to be here, and we got pregnant unexpectedly, but if we didn’t, we would’ve had to wait another year for him to have chemo out of his system. I think she’s meant to be here for him,” she says.

Eddie has to get scanned every three months until next year. If the doctors continue to see “stable scans,” they can move the check-ins to every six months.

Maggie has been documenting Eddie and her family’s journey on TikTok, where she has found a community with others going through similar health journeys.

“I wanted to share his story because I wanted to raise awareness, because there isn’t enough research. I know there’s a lot more research on glioblastoma, but not as much on astrocytoma,” she says. “His doctor said he usually sees those types of tumors and people in their 60s, and he’s 30 years old.” 

Maggie’s first viral video was from their pregnancy announcement, which they did at their wedding. She says it inspired her to document both the highs and lows.

“I thought, if I’m sharing the happy moments of our life, which is like our daughter, we should also share everything we’re going through because it could help someone else and also raise awareness, get more funding that could save someone’s life,” she says. “If it could extend his prognosis from eight years to way more, I’ve done my job. We should share the happy moments and the hard moments, maybe you’re helping someone else cope with it.” 

Through connecting with others, Maggie has helped families advocate for their medical care. 

“Sharing stories and people being aware of certain symptoms that could lead to a diagnosis like this. I tell people to get checked. Even if you’re 30 years old and you think you’re healthy, get checked. Fight to get an MRI. I’m glad that we fought to get his MRI because otherwise he probably wouldn’t be here.”

Maggie shares that they’re still paying off their medical expenses, which include $300,000 worth of bills for Eddie’s surgery alone. Having given birth, Maggie also has medical bills of her own.

“As soon as he had his surgery, my sister started the GoFundMe. We were receiving bill after bill after bill. He couldn’t work for a year, and the GoFundMe helped us tremendously,” she says. “It has paid for so many of the bills, him being able to be home with our baby while he was recovering and with a newborn.”