I'm sorry to say that this story does not have a fairy tale ending, but it is remarkably touching nonetheless. Rebecca Hankins, who is now 33 years old, was diagnosed with cervical cancer when she was 27. Rebecca and her husband Scott had been trying to have a baby for a year. She was told that the treatment for her cancer would leave her infertile and she was devastated. Against her doctor's advice she chose to delay treatment for a month so that she could harvest some of her eggs and freeze some embryos. She says, "For me there was so point having cancer treatment if I couldn't have a baby so there was no question about it."
Once she recovered from her cancer treatment, she started looking into how she could use the embryos she had frozen. She needed a surrogate and you are never going to believe who volunteered. Julie Brackenbury, her husband's ex-wife offered to be the surrogate! Tell me that's not a little bit shocking.
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I really am impressed that Julie came forward with such a generous offer to her ex-husband wife. She has five children of her own and says, "Watching them go through cancer was hard and I got close to Rebecca. The thought of them not being able to have a baby was awful and it was the thought of what I could give them at the end that made me want to do it." That is a good person right there.
So Julie went through two rounds of IVF, but sadly did not become pregnant and there were no more embryos left to try with. Rebecca was crushed and so was Julie.
Things got even tougher for Julie. Her marriage collapsed and ended when she wanted to look into adopting, but her husband did not. She is now happily involved with someone else and they are looking into adopting. I wish them much luck and much love.
You see how this story didn't have a fairy tale ending, but the true beauty comes from what one woman was willing to do for another woman. It's beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.
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