by Robert and Joanne Forster got married and quickly realized that they would probably never have their own family sadly.
In 2006, before he even met Joanne, Robert suffered from non-Hodgkin lymphoma and by the grace of God and medicine he beat it, thanks to life-saving chemotherapy treatments.
But just two years later, Joanne was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma and had to go through similar treatments
In both cases, the need to begin chemo immediately was so serious that neither Robert nor Joanne had any time at all to freeze sperm or eggs for the future.
As ITV News reports, the Forsters had long since given up hope that they would ever be able to conceive on their own.
That’s why Robert assumed it had to be a joke when his wife called him with shocking news.
“Joanne texted me and said she thought I needed to come home from work,” Robert recalled. “I went home and she was there with a pregnancy test in her hand.”
The Forsters were instantly “over the moon” about the positive pregnancy test, which proved to be a real-life miracle, according to doctors.
Nearly nine months later—and several days before his due date—Henry Forster was born, weighing a perfectly healthy 7 pounds, 11 ounces.
Thanks to the timing of his big arrival, Henry turned out to be the world’s greatest Christmas present for his parents.
“The fact he was born on Christmas Day, after we’d been told we would not be able to have children, just makes it that little bit more special,” Joanne said.
