A mum who was told she’d never be able to have children after battling cancer has defied the odds by not only surviving the disease, but by giving birth to a miracle baby boy.
Joanna, from Oxfordshire, was given just a 5% chance of survival when she was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of ovarian cancer.
Doctors warned that the aggressive treatment needed to save her life would destroy her fertility, leaving the 38-year-old unable to conceive naturally.
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After years of gruelling appointments, Joanna was finally declared cancer-free – but faced early menopause.
Tragically, she was told she would never carry a child of her own.
But after years of heartbreak, hospital visits and fears that her dream of motherhood was over, Joanna finally found hope again.
And after more than a decade, she welcomed her long-awaited baby boy into the world.
“Having gone through the menopause, I knew I’d need to have those conversations about how children wouldn’t be achieved through the normal route,” Joanna, who did not share her surname, told What’s The Jam.
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“I think I always thought that, as I couldn’t have children, no one would want me.
“It played on my mind, especially as I’d have liked multiple children, but I knew that if I didn’t survive the cancer, then I wouldn’t be having kids anyway.
“Having treatment was my only option, so I had to push the concerns over my fertility to the back of my mind.”
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Everything changed for Joanna when she met her partner, Gary, in 2018.
The couple quickly discovered they shared the same hopes for the future, despite Joanna’s earlier fears of never finding someone who would accept her.
Joanna, who was 26 when she was diagnosed, became ill after doctors discovered a rugby ball-sized cyst on her ovary in 2013.
When the cancer spread to her lymph nodes a year after the cyst was removed, doctors had to act immediately.
Aggressive chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant saved her life but left her unable to conceive naturally, forcing her to look at conceiving a child through other methods.
Determined to explore every option, the now 38-year-old began researching fertility treatment and discovered that egg donation could give her the chance to carry a child.
She said, “I had to have regular ultrasounds to check for any new cancer, and there were a couple where they thought I might have some very immature eggs left.
“But then a few months later, I had another ultrasound where they said my ovary was completely shrivelled up.
“Every time I was given a little bit of hope, I wondered if I might be one of the lucky ones.
“There would be moments where I’d be like ‘Oh my God, something good is happening’, and then everything would come crashing back down again.
“I would get quite frustrated with my family and friends when they asked why I wouldn’t consider egg donation.
“I knew it was a feasible option, but I think if you’re not in that situation, you can’t understand what it means to grieve the loss of a genetic child.”
Because of her medical history, Joanna applied for NHS funding under exceptional circumstances.
Despite being over the usual age limit for assistance, her case was approved – and she was offered one round of IVF at TFP Oxford Fertility.
But finding the right egg donor proved to be an emotional and lengthy process.
Joanna wanted someone who shared similar characteristics, and the wait to be matched felt endless.
In June 2023, the couple finally received the news they had been longing for – a suitable donor had been found.
She said: “I knew I wanted to be a mum, but I didn’t know if I could get my head around the route we would have to take to become parents.
“I think reading their stories made me see that it’s not just about genetics – I would get to carry that baby, grow that baby.
“Just because it wasn’t my egg didn’t make the baby any less my own.”
A total of 15 eggs were donated and fertilised with Gary’s sperm, creating eight embryos suitable for freezing.
Joanna faced setbacks during her embryo transfer, including unexpected bleeding that delayed treatment.
On her second attempt in August 2023, two embryos were transferred successfully.
After a tense two-week wait, tests confirmed she was pregnant, ending years of heartbreak and finally giving her hope of becoming a mum.
In May 2024, Joanna and Gary’s dream became a reality when their healthy baby boy arrived safely into the world.
Now, more than 10 years after she was told she’d never carry a child, Joanna is relishing every moment of motherhood.
She said, “When I was positive, I couldn’t believe it. I started to question myself and ended up testing every day up until the official two-week test given to us by the clinic.
“It’s been an incredibly emotional journey, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. We’re both so grateful that we’ve been given the chance to bring a child into the world.
“I’ll always be honest with [him] as he gets older about where he came from. I want him to know how special he was and how much he was wanted.”
