Sister delivers brother's baby after cancer rendered his wife infertile

Could there be any tougher test of a new relationship than the one that confronted Natalie Carney and Adam Burton only three months after they started dating?

First came the devastating news that Natalie had cervical cancer and the treatment would leave her infertile.

Then, as she made plans to have her eggs frozen so she could become a mum later, doctors explained her that by far the best chance would be if they were fertilised by her boyfriend first, then frozen as living embryos.

Natalie, now 25, recalls: “By then, Adam and I had only been together for five months. It was such a huge ­decision to make so early on in our relationship.

"You need both people’s consent to use the embryos so if we split up and he said, ‘No’ that would have been my one chance gone.”

She and engineer Adam, 26, had been friends since childhood and knew their new relationship was serious.

But Natalie reveals: “I told him that I understood if he wanted to leave. It was a lot for him to take on. We didn’t know what was in store. But Adam gave me a hug and said, ‘No I don’t want to leave’.”

The couple bravely decided to go ahead with IVF treatment – and in an amazing twist it was Adam’s sister Jaki, already a mum of two, who became their surrogate and carried their baby.

Jaki says: “I saw Adam and Natalie go through hell when she was diagnosed with cancer and it was heartbreaking not being able to do anything. But when it came to them wanting to start a family, I knew I could help.

"It would mean I’d be pregnant with my brother’s baby but I didn’t really think about it like that.”

Thanks to her selfless offer the couple, from Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Notts, are now the proud parents of seven-week-old Aiden. Natalie says: “I feel like the luckiest person in the whole wide world and it’s all thanks to Jaki.”

Adam adds: “My sister put her life on hold for us for a year. But that’s typical of her. She’s always put other people first.”

Natalie was working in a call centre and studying to be a nurse in January 2011 when she first realised something was wrong. She says: “I started bleeding between periods and getting stomach cramps too.

“I went to my GP several times and at first they thought it was a problem with my gall bladder. Another time I was told I had a water infection and then they said it was an STI (sexually transmitted infection).”

At 21, Natalie was still too young for her first smear test – controversially the NHS does not screen women under 25 – so another year went before she was diagnosed with cervical cancer after a biopsy discovered a tumour.

“When they told me it was cancer I felt numb,” she says. “The doctor’s mouth was moving but I wasn’t focusing on what she was saying. I thought, ‘How can I have cancer? I don’t even feel poorly’.”

To save her life, Natalie needed a four-hour radical hysterectomy in which both her cervix and womb were removed. Luckily, the surgeons were able to save her ovaries so she could keep her eggs for fertility treatment involving a surrogate mother.

But further tests revealed the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes and she would need chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which would destroy her eggs and leave her infertile.

“It was a real smack in the face,” she says. “I was still young so I hadn’t really thought about children but when it was taken away it felt like my world had ended.”

The only option was to freeze her eggs before starting the treatment.

“It was a race against time because I only had a month,” she says. “My consultant told me they were prepared to extend it by another week, but not any further, because my life was at risk.”

At the fertility clinic Natalie was then told news that put her in what would have been an impossible position for most new couples.

Doctors explained there was a much higher success rate when the eggs were fertilised with male sperm before freezing than when the egg was used on its own.

After she and Adam decided to go ahead together, the clinicians managed to create three embryos – their potential biological children.

Natalie’s chemotherapy and radiotherapy finished in June 2012, and it was while she had time off work recovering that she grew closer to Adam’s sister.

At that time, Jaki, an administrator, was on maternity leave after giving birth to Evie, now three. She also has a four-year-old son, Finley.

Jaki says: “Sometimes we’d go for a walk in the park or into town for a coffee and Natalie was great with Finley and Evie. They love her.”

And then Natalie’s own sister, Danielle, got pregnant unexpectedly. Natalie says: “It hit me really hard. My sister felt awkward and she tried to include me but it took me towards the end of her pregnancy to accept it.”

The pregnancy also meant that Natalie’s sister could no longer be her surrogate, which sent Natalie on a downward spiral. As a mum herself, Jaki knew she had to step in and offer to be a surrogate for her brother and Natalie.

She explains: “I cannot imagine my life without my kids now, and I’m so lucky to have my two. And I was separated by then. I knew I could do it.

"I would never have put myself forward if I’d thought I couldn’t give the baby away and I wouldn’t have wanted them to use a surrogate outside the family. I’d never have forgiven myself if they’d used a stranger and it had gone horribly wrong.”

Natalie was overwhelmed by Jaki’s proposal.

She recalled: “A few people had offered to be my surrogate but you never know if people are serious. With Jaki, I knew she wouldn’t say it if she didn’t mean it.”

In January 2013 Natalie got a cancer all-clear and a year later Jaki started the surrogacy treatment, which cost around £4,000 for the hormone injections and implantations.

She needed daily hormone injections to prepare her womb to accept the embryos that had been stored.

Then, in May last year, two of the embryos were defrosted.

Natalie says: “I’d been waiting by the phone all morning and when the clinic called to say that both were viable I burst out crying. It was the best news.”

Later that day, two embryos were implanted into Jaki. Natalie recalls: “I was with her and all I could think about was this massive thing that could change everyone’s lives, and it was over in two minutes.

Jaki jokes: “I didn’t want to stand up in case they fell out! If it hadn’t worked I know they wouldn’t have blamed me but I’d have felt guilty. I didn’t want to let them down.”

Racked with nerves, Natalie, Jaki and Adam went on holiday to Skegness for a week and Jaki found out she was pregnant the day they got home.

Jaki recalled: “We bought 30 tests and did them all because nobody believed it We were so happy.”

Adam admits he struggled with the whole concept at first. He recalls: “It did feel a bit strange – your sister’s having

your baby. But once it sank in it was fine.”

And when Jaki’s bump started showing, she told her children.

She says: “We were in the bath together and my little boy said: ‘Mummy, your tummy is getting fat.’ And I said: ‘That’s because you’re baby cousin is in there. Auntie Nat’s tummy is poorly so I’m helping them’. They are still young so they just accepted it.”

Both Natalie and Adam went to all of Jaki’s hospital appointments and at the 20-week scan they found they were having a baby boy – only one embryo took.

Shortly afterwards, Natalie felt him kick for the first time. Jaki says: “She was sitting next to me and I grabbed her hand and put it on my tummy. Natalie said: ‘Hello baby, mummy’s here’.”

A month before Jaki was due, friends and family threw a surprise baby shower for Natalie. There she was, surrounded by balloons and banners as she unwrapped babygros and nursery equipment.

It was a highly unusual party when the guest of honour was not personally pregnant, but also a happy occasion which set the scene for Aiden’s arrival in February.

He weighed a healthy 7lb 7.5 oz at birth and both Natalie and Adam were there to share the moment.

Jaki says: “I had a water birth and Natalie was able to get in the pool with me. She actually pulled him out so she was the first to hold him. We all had a little cry. It was such a special moment. I was proud of myself because I’d helped them achieve their dream.”

After checks, Natalie and Adam were able to take Aiden home from hospital while Jaki was keen to get back to her own two children.

Jaki says: “I was where I was meant to be and Aiden was where he belonged – with his mum and dad.”

She never worried about inadvertently bonding with Aiden. “I never let myself get attached to him,” she says. “I never thought of him as mine or wanted to keep him. I was just the oven. I was just cooking him!”

The couple, who now live on the same street as Jaki, have given Aiden the middle name of Jack in honour of his special aunt.

Natalie says: “We can never thank her enough, so it was our small way of acknowledging what she did She has done this out of the goodness of her heart. She’s amazing.”

Natalie has now applied for a parental order to let her become the legal mother.

Under current legislation in England and Wales the surrogate is the legal mother at birth.

And the family are keen for Aiden to know his aunt’s special role.

Natalie said: “It will never be a secret from him. It shouldn’t be hidden. It should be celebrated.

“He’s a little miracle baby and Jaki is our saviour.”