Cancer

[mr40]

Couple battles cancer, long odds with friends to have a baby

If all you've ever wanted is a family, there's perhaps no greater joy than knowing you're about to have your own. One couple's journey to parenthood was a twisted path through life's ups and downs and they've shared every step of the way with their best friends.

This is a story of love, hardship, friendship and a joy so great it has erased all the sadness along the way. There is perhaps no greater joy than the anticipated birth of a baby. Daniel and Rene Redmann are expecting their first. "We're ready," Rene said.

Amy and Mike Dubuc, old friends from high school couldn't be happier for them. Parents several times, no one appreciates more the journey that's brought them here one that started 10 years ago.

"I just thought he was a little bit, I don't know," Rene said of her first impression of Daniel.

Daniel's of Rene? "I thought she was pretty, but I thought she was a little mean."

So maybe it wasn't love at first sight, and maybe it did take Daniel two years to ask Rene out, but friends noticed the spark from the start.

"I think we were both like, duh, why didn't this happen a long time ago?" said Mike Dubuc. "They just gelled together so perfectly right away." Amy agreed.

Rene and Daniel soon became a couple. He was a young attorney, she was a new accountant. They were 25, in love, seemingly on a fairy tale path, but one they had no idea would soon pit them against a deadly monster.

"I ended up telling him on the phone, laying on the biopsy table," Rene said. "I have breast cancer."

"Back then, we weren't prepared for it," Daniel said. "We were just too young."

The lump Rene had been told before was benign was, in fact, malignant and growing out of control. The cancer had spread to her liver. She was stage 4 and headed to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. She was told the treatment could save her, but kill her chance of having kids.

"Chemo didn't seem that challenging other people have done it, I can do that, radiation, not a problem," Rene said. "You wanna give me a mastectomy, that's fine, too. But not having children? That's gonna change my whole world."

Friends Mike and Amy were crushed, the timing seemed cruel.

"Literally the same month we found out we were pregnant with our first, for Audrey, we got a text from Rene that she had been diagnosed with cancer," said Mike.

Still just dating at the time, Rene didn't want Daniel to feel he had to stay by her side, but no one was surprised when he insisted on it.

What about the hair she'd lose? He liked her eyes better, he said.

When she was told she'd lose her breasts, Daniel said, "She has a great butt." When she said she may not be able to have kids, Daniel said, "We got a dog. I bought her a dog and we're gonna dress him up."

That's just what they did, they focused on the positive instead of the odds. Little did they know, eight months later they'd break them. Rene was expecting to hear how much cancer was left, but was totally unprepared for what the doctor said instead.

"He (the doctor) said, 'You've had a complete response, and there's no medical explanation for it.'")

Daniel remembered, "She said, 'I have a complete response.' I said, 'Great, What is a complete response?'"

The two could barely process the news and as quickly as her diagnosis had spread, the good news spread even faster.

"When you get the text message that she's cancer free, everybody is ecstatic," Mike said. "This is like, wow!"

Rene was well and as soon as her hair grew back, she started planning a wedding that had everyone counting down the days.

"It was the best day of our lives. it was amazing," Rene said.

"There was a lot of spirits, a lot of dancing, a lot of those dance moves cannot be duplicated," Mike recalled.

Rene and Daniel enjoyed a honeymoon that went on and on as one scan after another showed she was cancer free.

Five years out and with no objection from her doctor she stopped her medication to try to have a baby. Their dream of having a family was within reach or so it seemed until the doctor asked for one more scan.

"That's when we got the results it was back," Rene said.

The cancer had returned.

"I'm thinking lets go right to the hospital, lets go get right on chemotherapy immediately, nothing else matters now but taking care of you. and she in the back of her head said, we wanna keep trying on," Daniel said.

Rene decided to put off chemo until she could freeze her eggs.

"Here she is with the worst news again, with this battle ahead of her and she's still worried about a family first," Mike said.

As Rene fought for her life and the hope of a family, the Dubucs were blessed with one child after another. Rene and Daniel were painfully, entirely happy for them.

"You're happy for them, you're so happy for them, but your jealous. You want that ,too," Rene said.

Only, Rene had a bigger battle to wage at the moment: the cancer in her liver.

As if they were back on that same terrifying roller coaster of 5 years ago, that low was about to be followed by news that would bring them sky-high. Rene had responded to the drugs immediately. Once again, she was cancer free.

"I felt like we had won the lottery. i felt like a miracle had happened," Daniel said.

The doctors gave rene a great prognosis as long as she stays on the medicine.

Her life had been spared not once but twice and thanks to modern science, Rene and Daniel could have a child, if only they could find a womb to carry it. Little did they know they wouldn't have to look for one. Their surrogate came to them.

"We were sitting on the sofa and I remember this moment of like kind of looking at each other, 'Wait a second are you thinking what i'm thinking?'" Mike recalled.

"I think that's why it was so easy because we were like, 'Yeah, why not, right?'" Amy remembered.

Now, sitting on that same couch, folding her kid's clothes. Amy is carrying Rene and Daniel's baby, the one Rene put her life on the line when she froze her eggs before resuming treatment.

Rene and Daniel remember when they found out. The Dubucs had wrapped up the test in a gift bag, and like a modern-day stork, left it on their doorstep

"We both ran to the door. The last time we ran like that was Christmas morning and Santa Claus came," Daniel said.

Only no one here is looking back. All eyes are focused on the baby who's already brought so much hope to so many. The Redmanns and Dubucs have been friends for life. Now they share a family bond and quiet moment.

It won't be long before they're surrounded by little ones. It'll be madness they say, and everyone is insanely happy.

The baby is due May 27.

http://www.wwltv.com/story/news/2015/05/09/couple-battles-cancer-long-odds-with-friends-to-have-a-baby/27026991/