Woman gives birth to miracle twins after having both ovaries removed

S?helly Battista was on top of the world after becoming a mum to her daughter Emelia.

But when Emelia was six months old, the then 34-year-old from Chicago was given a shock diagnosis of triple negative breast cancer. Worse, she was told she was at a higher genetic risk of developing ovarian cancerBRCA 1 mutation.

The news left Shelly and husband Robert thinking their dreams of expanding their family were over.?

"We were just starting our life together, and we get this shocking news," she told NBC's TODAY show.

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"We were already talking about expanding our family. And so that was kind of my first question, how is this going to impact that?"

Thankfully, reproductive endocrinologist Dr Kara Goldman, was able to alay their fears, advising the couple to undergo fertility treatment before Shelly started chemotherapy.?

Speaking with TODAY, Dr Goldman, who is the medical director of fertility preservation at Northwestern Fertility and Reproductive Medicin?e, said this course would give Shelly the greatest chance of having more children of her own after treatment.

"The type of chemotherapy that is used in young patients with triple-negative breast cancer is very toxic to the ovaries," Goldman told TODAY. "We started her fertility preservation journey two days later. She started medications and, two weeks later, she had eight frozen embryos."

After undergoing 12 rounds of chemo, Shelly underwent a double mastectomy and in December 2020 was declared cancer free.

But she was dealt another blow when she was told she'd developed ovarian insufficiency, a condition in which the ovaries cease working by the age of 40.

Due to this and the BRCA1 gene, she opted to have both ovaries and her fallopian tubes removed.

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And one year after completing treatment, the couple began trying for their second child.

Unfortunately, the first two transfers failed, but it was third time lucky for the pair, who received a phone call letting them know they were pregnant.

Although Shelly no longer had ovaries, her uterus was healthy and she was given hormone treatment to enable her to fall pregnant.?

"[Dr Goldman] called me herself personally [to tell us]. We were both ecstatic and crying and yelling," she told TODAY.

It wasn't the only surprise - despite only having had one embryo implanted, the couple were told at their first ultrasound that they were expecting twins, a one per cent chance occurrence.

"I think our jaws kind of dropped open, but I mean, seriously, such a blessing too,"? Shelly told NBC Chicago.

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And two years to the day after being told there was no cancer remaining, they welcomed daughter?s Nina and Margot.

"So December 9th, exactly two years of me being cancer free, which is crazy. There was no way to ever plan something like that. I just was... the stars aligned," Shelly told Good Morning America.

"Life is good, it's chaos but in the happiest way. We're tired but I think we're holding it together."

As Robert told NBC Chicago, it was a positive reminder of Shelly's recovery.?

"It's like the best celebration of Shelly's cancer journey. It's like, you've beaten cancer, and now here's this extra love you get on top of it," he said. "It will be the most important day of the year in our family."

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