Woman who was told she was infertile due to leukaemia has ‘miracle baby’

A woman who was told she was “infertile” due to cancer treatment says she went on to have a “miracle baby”.

Ann Hope, 42, was diagnosed with cancer in 2016. At the time she already had two children but had dreamed of having one more.

Hope was diagnosed with leukaemia, a type of blood cancer, and was told she would need four rounds of chemotherapy which would be likely to leave her infertile.

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“When I got my diagnosis I was just in shock. It didn't sink in. Before treatment, doctors told me it's more than likely going to make me infertile, but there was no time to harvest my eggs,” she explains.

“At the time, I was so ill I didn't even think about it. It only sank in after my treatments when a fertility scan suggested my eggs were all damaged.

"It was devastating learning IVF was our only option, because we already knew we didn't have the money for it.”

Hope was eventually given the all-clear from cancer, and soon fell pregnant with her “miracle baby”, a daughter called Eden who was born in June 2018.

“I was gobsmacked when I found out I was pregnant. At first, I was worried because I had been told my eggs were damaged,” she says.

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“So when Eden was born the following June, I didn't actually believe she was there. It was so surreal.

“It wasn't an easy pregnancy, but now we tell people she's our little miracle and it's made our whole family stronger.”

Hope is also mother to Amy, 24, and Ellis, 13. While Hope was worried that Eden would be underweight when she was born, the now-four year old was born at a healthy 8lb 4oz (3.8kg).

Hope and her husband, Matty Hope, went to the doctor in 2016 after Hope lost her voice and noticed a lump had grown on her neck.

At first, doctors thought she was suffering from laryngitis, and it was only when she was referred to a throat clinic that she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia.

Hope started her first round of chemotherapy the day after she received her diagnosis.

“By this point though, the doctors were telling me I would be dead in 24 hours if I didn't start treatment right then,” she explains.

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Two days after she began chemotherapy, Hope ended up in ICU for 11 days with pneumonia, which meant the chemo had to be paused.

Hope went through several rounds of chemotherapy before she was given the all-clear in November 2016.

“A cancer diagnosis can cause a lot of families to break and I know some who have,” she adds. “But we all stayed strong and we have our miracle little girl despite everything.”

Additional reporting by SWNS.

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