Woman gives birth to her own grandson after becoming surrogate for her cancer-surviving daughter

Baby Jack was conceived through IVF with eggs taken before cancer treatment began

Wednesday 07 December 2016 12:24 GMT

Jess (Left) and Julie Bradford (Facebook / Jess Bradford's cervical cancer awareness: bit.ly/2h5Hnve)

A woman whose daughter was left infertile by cancer treatment has given birth to her own grandson.

Julie Bradford, 45, acted as a surrogate for her 21-year-old daughter Jessica Jenkins, who survived cervical cancer having been diagnosed with the disease aged 18.

Ms Bradford gave birth last Friday to baby Jack, conceived through IVF with eggs taken from her daughter before she began radiotherapy, reported the Daily Mirror.

The hairdresser from Rhymney in south Wales, who is already a mother of three, told the newspaper her new grandson was a “Christmas miracle”.

“Any mother would do this for their child,” she said. “If cancer couldn't beat us there was no way I wasn't having a baby for Jessica.“

Ms Jenkins, whose cancer diagnosis left her unable to have children by herself, was present at her mother’s bedside during the birth of her son.

She told the Mirror her “depth of despair” was not getting cancer, which could be overcome, but “being told point blank I’d never have kids”.

Ms Jenkins has been in remission from the disease since August 2014.

She and her husband Rees Jenkins, 27, decided to go ahead with IVF earlier this year using the 21 eggs harvested shortly before she began treatment.

The eggs were frozen at University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, reported the BBC.

“My mam is the most brave and amazing woman in the world. I love her so much for giving me my son,“ Ms Jenkins told the broadcaster.

Ms Bradford and her daughter have been campaigning to lower the age for routine smear tests for women in Wales from 24 to 18 after doctors told Ms Jenkins she was too young to have cancer.

13 ways to help prevent cancer

Show all 13

1/1313 ways to help prevent cancer

13 ways to help prevent cancer

Stopping smoking. This notoriously difficult habit to break sees tar build-up in the lungs and DNA alteration and causes 15,558 cancer deaths a year

13 ways to help prevent cancer

Avoiding the sun, and the melanoma that comes with overexposure to harmful UV rays, could help conscientious shade-lovers dodge being one of the 7,220 people who die from it

13 ways to help prevent cancer

A diet that is low in red meat can help to prevent bowel cancer, according to the research - with 30 grams a day recommended for men, and 25 a day recommended for women

13 ways to help prevent cancer

Foods high in fibre, meanwhile, can further make for healthier bowels. Processed foods in developed countries appear to be causing higher rates of colon cancer than diets in continents such as Africa, which have high bean and pulse intakes

13 ways to help prevent cancer

Two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables a day were given as the magic number for good diet in the research. Overall, diet causes only slightly fewer cancer deaths than sun exposure in Australia, at 7,000 a year

13 ways to help prevent cancer

Obesity and being overweight, linked to poor diet and lack of exercise, causes 3,917 deaths by cancer a year on its own

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13 ways to help prevent cancer

Dying of a cancer caused by infection also comes in highly, linked to 3,421 cancer deaths a year. Infections such as human papilloma virus - which can cause cervical cancer in women - and hepatitis - can be prevented by vaccinations and having regular check-ups

13 ways to help prevent cancer

Cutting back on drinks could reduce the risk of cancers caused by alcohol - such as liver cancer, bowel cancer, breast cancer and mouth cancer - that are leading to 3,208 deaths a year

2014 Getty Images

13 ways to help prevent cancer

Sitting around and not getting the heart pumping - less than one hour's exercise a day - is directly leading to about 1,800 people having lower immune functions and higher hormone levels, among other factors, that cause cancers

2011 Getty Images

13 ways to help prevent cancer

Hormone replacement therapy, which is used to relieve symptoms of the menopause in women, caused 539 deaths from (mainly breast) cancer in Australia last year. It did, however, prevent 52 cases of colorectal cancers

2003 Getty Images

13 ways to help prevent cancer

Insufficient breastfeeding, bizarrely, makes the top 10. Breastfeeding for 12 months could prevent 235 cancer cases a year, said the research

AFP/Getty Images

13 ways to help prevent cancer

Oral contraceptives, like the Pill, caused about 105 breast cancers and 52 cervical cancers - but it also prevented about 1,440 ovarian and uterine (womb) cases of cancer last year

2006 Getty Images

13 ways to help prevent cancer

Taking aspirin also prevented 232 cases in the Queensland research of colorectal and oesophagal cancers - but as it can also cause strokes, is not yet recommended as a formal treatment against the risk of cancer

Doctors originally believed Ms Jenkins had thrush when she had symptoms such as bleeding and painful sex, but repeat visits revealed a tumour on her cervix.

The family have not ruled out having further children and hope to use pioneering womb transplant technology, with Ms Bradford offering to donate her own.

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