“Our Journey to a Miracle”
The Voils family and their little miracle, Anna Kate; Richmond, VA

Our journey to becoming parents hasn’t been the smoothest ride. There have been lots of roadblocks and detours along the way, but we finally made it and oh, what a view! Our daughter consumes us and it is hard to imagine the boring life we led before she arrived.

It all began 15 years ago when I was diagnosed with lupus at the age of 16. From the beginning, I was warned that having children would likely endanger my health. The stress associated with pregnancy and labor could cause my lupus to flare and possibly jeopardize the pregnancy or my life. I took this in stride and focused on what I could do to make myself better; after all, I was only 16 years old.

My lupus showed little improvement over the next year and I went away to college knowing that I would soon be starting a chemotherapy regimen as part of my treatment for lupus. This was presented to me by a team of experts as my best option; however, I knew it wasn’t really an option. Another hurdle had been placed in front of me, but I proceeded forward in hopes of regaining my health. I was sick but I was also a determined college student and I had many dreams and goals ahead of me.

The experts were right, and my lupus made a turn around. Unfortunately, the damage to me ovaries was irreversible and the diagnosis of premature ovarian failure came shortly thereafter. Fortunately, there are experts to treat that too, and that is where our daughter comes into the story.

I had endless consultation and appointments with various physicians before I could proceed. I finally got the stamp of approval and we got our much-anticipated schedule. Against all of the odds, my beta hCG came back positive on April 19, 2004. I would never have thought it possible that I could give myself injections daily for months! But I did it without hesitation until that day finally came when I was told no more meds! Each week was a milestone and I actually enjoyed being pregnant. I knew how lucky I was to be pregnant with our daughter and couldn’t wait for her to arrive.

Despite of all the potential complications we anticipated, my pregnancy was uneventful and we delivered our daughter, Anna Kate, on December 14, 2004. She was the most beautiful baby in the world and we were so proud. We had overcome so many challenges and the reward overshadowed all of the heartache and sadness of our journey.

In only 18 months, Anna Kate has taught us so many things that we may have missed in a lifetime without her. We love spending time outdoors with her. She has such an appreciation of so many little things that we would probably never notice. She particularly loves animals so we spend list of time reading about them and learning what sounds they make. Her favorite animal is our yellow Labrador, Lexi. Anna Kate’s eyes brighten at the mention of her name and she loves the sloppy wet kisses that Lexi plans right on her face.