A twin whose sister was left infertile after developing cancer stepped in to help her realise her dream of becoming a mum again.
Cathey Stoner carried her sister Sarah Sharp's baby for her when she was told she needed an emergency hysterectomy and is due to give birth in August.
"From the beginning I've felt differently in this pregnancy because I know it's my nephew and not my son, and I have loved every step of the way," Cathey told Good Morning America.
"I tell people, 'I'm just carrying my nephew'."
The 33-year-old happily offered to be the gestational carrier for Sarah and her husband, who is the biological father, and they have already named the boy John Ryder.
Sarah was devastated when she was told she may need an emergency hysterectomy after being diagnosed with a rare gynaecological cancer in 2018.
"Cathey rushed to the emergency room to be by my side," Sarah said.
"And that was the first time she said to me, 'If you need to have a hysterectomy, I'll have your babies.'"
Just weeks earlier, the mum-of-one from Nashville, in the US, had been diagnosed with choriocarcinoma, a rare and fast-growing cancer that occurs in a woman's uterus.
She’d been suffering from bouts of bleeding and thought she’d had a miscarriage at first, but when tests revealed the shocking diagnosis she was devastated.
Doctors told her the cancer had most likely come from her first pregnancy with her now four-year-old daughter Charlotte, and was likely to rob her of any future pregnancies.
"The diagnosis pretty much rocked my world," Sarah said. "My first thought was just survival and getting through treatment.
"But it broke me because my husband and I wanted to have more kids. My daughter had just turned one."
Sarah underwent seven rounds of chemotherapy in an attempt to beat the cancer and save her uterus.
She was declared cancer free in December 2018, just before her 31st birthday, but by her first checkup, in January, the disease had returned.
She then began a new course of chemotherapy and also underwent a hysterectomy, which successfully removed the cancer but left her without the hope of giving birth to another child.
"It was kind of a déjà vu moment where I found Cathey and my husband by my bedside again," recalled Sarah, referring to the moment a year earlier in the emergency room.
"And that's when Cathey said, 'I'm serious this time. I will have your babies.'"
"We kind of laughed a little bit again but for me, in the back of my mind, it was something to hold onto," she said. "It was something to help me move myself forward mentally. It was hope and grace and the future all in one."
Now almost three years after her diagnosis, Sarah is both cancer free and excitedly preparing to become a mum again in August.
Cathey and her husband already have a four-year-old son and a six-year-old daughter, but she had no doubts about helping her twin expand her family.
"To be able to go to the doctor for such a happy reason is really healing for all of us," said Cathey, who has shared every step of the pregnancy with Sarah.
"It's been an easy pregnancy, so we've gotten to soak up the good stuff."
Sarah and her husband will be in the delivery room in August alongside Cathey and her husband as they welcome their son and nephew, respectively.
"We feel so unbelievably honoured to be his parents and raise him," added Sarah.
"A lot of love brought him here."
The sisters are co-hosts of a podcast, "Talk to Me Sister," that's focuses on women’s health.
