A woman who feared she may never have children after battling ʙʟᴀᴅᴅᴇʀ ᴄᴀɴᴄᴇʀ has since given birth to a daughter and quadruplets.
US mom Virginia Johnson discovered that she had ʙʟᴀᴅᴅᴇʀ ᴄᴀɴᴄᴇʀ in 2013 when she had a scan to examine an ᴇᴄᴛᴏᴘɪᴄ pregnancy. Having had her right ꜰᴀʟʟᴏᴘɪᴀɴ ᴛᴜʙᴇ ʀᴇᴍᴏᴠᴇᴅ as a teenager, she was distraught to discover that she needed her left taken out.
Johnson was convinced she would never have children but was delighted when I.V.F worked and she became pregnant with her daughter Zoe in October 2014.
She and her husband, Victor, were hoping to have a second child, and she fell pregnant after just one round of I.V.F.
The parents first discovered they were having twins before finding out that one of the ᴇᴍʙʀʏᴏs had split in two and that they would have triplets. Two weeks after that, they were given the news that two babies were sharing one sac and that she was actually carrying quadruplets – three identical girls and a boy.
“It was such an emotional rollercoaster,” Virginia said. “I went from being excited for twins to being overwhelmed at the idea of triplets and then being completely gobsmacked that I was pregnant with quadruplets.”
“Right away, my doctors warned me about the ʀɪsᴋs of carrying quads and suggested that I consider “selective reduction,” which means aborting one or more of the babies. But that was never an option for me or my husband.”
She said, “I feel so lucky when I look at my children because I never thought this would happen to me. It hasn’t been your typical journey into parenthood, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
Virginia now shares adorable pictures of her family on her Instagram page and is thankful every day for her babies.
“When doctors discovered the ᴄᴀɴᴄᴇʀ, I was so broken,” she said. “After trying to have a baby for so long, we were just so incredibly happy to have ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇɪᴠᴇᴅ naturally.”
“And then boom – two weeks later, it was all taken away from us. I was incredibly angry and severely depressed. It took me a long time to realize that the ᴇᴄᴛᴏᴘɪᴄ pregnancy happened for a reason. It was like my body was saying, “Don’t worry, you are going to be a mom, but not yet. Your body isn’t ready. Let’s beat this ᴄᴀɴᴄᴇʀ first.”
