“My Miracle Baby”
The Kobell family and their little miracle, Eve Helena; Philadelphia, PA

My journey to become a mother began nine years ago when, at the age of 29, I learned that I had breast cancer.

It was horrible news, but it got even worse: I had a genetic mutation that carried extraordinarily high risks for developing breast and ovarian cancer. Because my tumor was so aggressive, and because I was so young, my doctors recommended that I immediately undergo a lumpectomy, followed by six months of chemotherapy and two months of radiation treatments. They also strongly encouraged me to have my ovaries removed as soon as possible.

I knew there was a real chance I would become infertile because of the chemotherapy and radiation treatments. The cancer diagnosis was difficult enough, but the idea that I might never be able to have my own biological children was devastating. I had only just reached the age where I had begun to think about and plan to have children, and now there was a chance that was being taken away from me.

Due to the aggressiveness of my disease, I was unable to do any fertility preservation. My doctors told me that, if I was still cancer-free three years after the completion of my treatment, I could safely start trying to conceive, but that I should have my ovaries removed as close to the age of 35 as possible. Doing so would reduce my chances of developing another breast cancer and virtually eliminate my chances of developing ovarian cancer.

At the time, I was watching both my mother and my paternal aunt struggle with the disease, so the question was far from theoretical. Much as I wanted time to heal from the cancer and the freedom to conceive my own children on my own timetable – a luxury so many women take for granted – I knew my clock was ticking loudly and ominously. As much as I wanted a child, I also wanted to live. If I kept my ovaries, I would be risking my own life, and my chances of growing another one inside me were far from certain. But I wasn’t going to give up on my dream of becoming a mother just because life had dealt me a bad hand. And as the difficult year of chemotherapy and radiation treatments ended and the years of cancer-free life passed, I became more hopeful that my dream would become a reality.

Exactly three years after I completed chemotherapy and radiation, I began fertility treatment under the care of a wonderful fertility doctor. However, as expected, chemotherapy had taken its toll on my body, and I was unable to conceive after more than a year of trying using Clomid and intrauterine inseminations. I felt like my body was failing me yet again. Since I was nearly 35 years old, we decided to move on to in vitro fertilization (IVF) so that I could proceed with my ovary removal. Once I knew that IVF was necessary, and the only way I could achieve a pregnancy, I began researching the possibility of screening the embryos to ensure that I did not pass on my genetic mutation to my child. Without this testing, any child of mine would have had a 50% chance of inheriting the gene from me. As chance would have it, we were able to find the only geneticist in the world at that time that was able to perform such testing.

After using a combination of injectible drugs, including Menopur, I underwent IVF at Abington Memorial Hospital in suburban Philadelphia. Despite my earlier cancer treatment, I had a successful stimulation; 15 embryos were fertilized. My embryologists carefully removed a single cell from each embryo, which they placed on slides and sent by special courier to the genetics lab in Detroit. The geneticists then worked around-the-clock for nineteen hours to locate the gene mutation in each of the cells. Meanwhile, 600 miles away, I waited nervously for the results that would determine my future as a mother.

Incredibly, conclusive results came back on eight of the 10 embryos. Of those eight embryos, four were affected with the gene mutation and four were not. The doctor then implanted the most viable embryos that were free of the gene mutation. Nine days later, I received the wonderful news that I was pregnant!

In December 2006, I gave birth to my little miracle. I named her Eve Helena, after my mother, Helen Evelyn, who also had the gene mutation, and who very sadly had passed away 18 months earlier after a long battle with ovarian cancer. Although my mother could not be there to meet Eve, I can see her face in my daughter’s. It reminds me of how lucky I am to have this little girl, and how hard I fought to bring her into this world.

As planned, I had my ovaries removed about a year after Eve was born (at the age of 36), after undergoing a second embryo retrieval (again using Menopur!) to preserve additional embryos for the future. I am proud to say that Eve is the first known baby in the world to have been born after being successfully screened for the genetic mutation as an embryo.

As a cancer survivor, I had always struggled with the competing desires to experience bringing another life into this world and the fear that this life would have to endure the same awful disease that my mother, my aunt and I, and so many other family members had endured. I was incredibly lucky to have been able to make my dream of becoming a mother a reality, and I am grateful to Ferring for helping to make it possible. When she is old enough, I look forward to telling Eve the incredible story of how she was brought into this world. I only wish I had known during the darker days of cancer treatment and fertility treatments how much joy that Eve would bring to my life, because I’m certain that would have helped me get through some of those difficult times.

To the many women who are undergoing fertility treatment today, I would say two things: First, you are stronger than you think. Fertility treatments can be taxing both physically and emotionally. And the journey to motherhood doesn’t always go as planned. But with good medical care, adherence to your protocol, and a little bit of luck, your dreams can come true, too. The most important thing is not to get discouraged, and to take care of yourself. Second, I would say that becoming a mother is well worth the sacrifice of fertility treatment, as nothing you ever do will be as important. For me, motherhood took a lot longer to achieve than I ever expected. But it also made it that much more special, and it is something I will never take for granted.