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It’s said that you’d pretty much do anything for the ones you love.
This 31-year-old clearly will – she is about to give birth to her brother-in-law’s baby.
Rachel Wilcox offered to carry a child for her husband's sister after she was diagnosed with colon cancer which left her unable to bear any children.
When Rachel was pregnant with her third child she found out her sister-in-law, Amanda Patterson (33), had an aggressive form of cancer.
Amanda noticed something was wrong when she got some severe stomach cramps. She was later diagnosed in October 2014.
She had to undergo surgery to remove her tumour and had to have chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
At her next doctor’s visit, the dental receptionist and her husband Reid asked doctors if she was able to have children after everything she had been through.
“I was still trying to come to terms with everything when Rachel asked the doctor if I could have children, and he just looked at us and said ‘no’,” says Amanda.
Rachel told her gynacologist about her sister-in-law's devastating predicament but was not at all prepared for what the doctor had suggested to her.
“I was telling my doctor about Amanda’s situation, during a pregnancy check-up, and she said ‘well you could become a surrogate’.
“I just laughed. I’d already told everyone my third baby was going to be my last pregnancy,” she says.
Rachel, who carried her doctor’s suggestion at the back of her mind, had been friends with Amanda for years marrying her brother Micah Wilcox.
“Before I’d even discussed it with Micah, I suggested it to Amanda. I don’t think she really took what I was saying seriously,” she says.
After having a discussion with her husband about it she quickly popped the desperate couple a text message telling them that she’d be honoured to have their baby – and they all decided on gestational surrogacy.
A process in which a woman carries a baby for the intending parents using their eggs and sperm.
“There are no words to explain how grateful I am,” says Amanda, “Rachel is the most selfless human being I know.”
Rachel is now 31 weeks pregnant with a little girl – while Amanda now excitedly decorates the nursary for their baby’s arrival in October.
“She’s sacrificed so much for us and we will never be able to repay her,” says Amanda.
Sources: thesun.co.uk, dailymail.co.uk, mirror.co.uk
