A research scientist whose cancer treatment left her infertile is now looking forward to growing her family thanks to an incredible gift given by her sister.
Dr Catherine Pointer, 30, was just 14 years old when she began to experience a period so heavy she needed a wheelchair.
She lost a stone in weight within two weeks, and after doctors conducted tests it was confirmed she had leukaemia.
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"I was in shock," the scientist recalled to the Mail Online. "I was scared. But mum and dad were so upset, I remember trying to be composed for them, trying to make them laugh."
The teenager underwent four rounds of chemotherapy and got the all clear, but at 17 she learned her cancer had returned and was even more aggressive.
"If it had been caught two days later, I could have died," she said. "This time, the odds of surviving were much lower. But I had to focus on treatment."
Catherine was warned the 'lethal' dose of chemo she needed would likely leave her unable to carry a child, but as a young woman with her whole life ahead of her Catherine said she 'wasn't interested in motherhood' at that point, she 'just needed to survive'.
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Looking back, she noted she was never offered the chance to freeze her eggs. She was given leaflets on infertility, but 'like a typical teenager', she didn't read them.
Thankfully her sister Joanna was more conscious at the time of what the treatment meant, so she sat Catherine down and said: "This will make you infertile, so if you ever want children I'll have some for you."
It wasn't until a decade later that Catherine took her sister up on the incredible offer, and Joanna was 'only too happy to help'.
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The 30-year-old, who after finishing her PhD began working on Cancer Research UK-funded trials at the same hospital where she was treated as a child, explained: "I went with her to some of the fertility appointments. She said that egg donation is not painful but it does require appointments every two days for two weeks, and a large number of injections at precise timings."
After Joanna donated her eggs, Catherine became pregnant and is now expecting a baby boy.
"We're so grateful," the mum-to-be said. "Jo has been so casual about it, but it's a huge gift and it's brought the family closer. Everyone wants this baby.
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"People ask: "Isn't it strange carrying your sister's biological baby?" but I couldn't care less that this little baby has slightly different DNA to me. I'm carrying him, I'll be giving birth to him and I'm his legal mother."
Joanna has said she is 'immensely proud' of her sister, and said that when she decides to become a mother herself she'll ask Catherine for tips on the job.
Emily Brown