This Mom Developed Pregnancy Related Cancer, She Didn’t Expect Her Twin Sister to Do Such a Thing

In 2018, a few months after Sarah Sharp gave birth, she experienced periods that lasted for more than a month. Following various tests, Sharp, then 31, received unexpected and frightening news: she had a rare uterine cancer. To treat it, doctors eventually had to perform a hysterectomy. Sharp was devastated because she was hoping to have another child. However, her dream of having another baby came true when her twin sister, Kathy Stoner, volunteered to be her gestational surrogate.

“It’s so healing and so amazing,” Sharp, 33, an architectural sales representative in Nashville, told Today Parents. “It’s a great example of selfless love. For me, it challenged me to understand how I can love people better, how I can be there for people in a selfless way.

After uterine cancer caused infertility, Kathy Stoner offered to carry her twin sister Sarah Sharp’s baby. When Stoner first suggested the idea, she presented it lightly, but her intentions were sincere. Sharp’s medical journey began nine months after the birth of her first child, Charlotte James, now four. She had periods that didn’t stop for 35 days. She initially thought it was a postpartum change, but Stoner urged her twin to take a pregnancy test, which came back positive.

Subsequent tests only sowed confusion. Sharp’s doctor suspected a miscarriage or possibly an ectopic pregnancy, but when no signs of pregnancy were found, it became clear that something more serious was going on. “The emotional roller coaster was almost debilitating,” Sharp recalls. When doctors realized it wasn’t a miscarriage, it created more fear. “Okay, if that’s not a miscarriage, what is?” she wondered.

Sharp’s OB-GYN performed a dilation and curettage (D&C) procedure, sending the tissue for testing. That’s when Sharp learned she had choriocarcinoma, a rare, fast-growing uterine cancer that starts in the tissue that would normally become the placenta. According to the United States National Library of Medicine, this type of cancer required immediate treatment. The diagnosis brought back painful memories of Sharp’s father, who died of leukemia in his 30s when the twins were just four years old.

Cancer treatment was exhausting for Sharp. She underwent surgery and began oral chemotherapy, but when the initial treatment proved ineffective, she had to switch to intravenous chemotherapy. “It was five chemotherapy drugs during which I spent the night in the hospital. It was quite hard,” she said. After six months, she was declared cancer-free. Unfortunately, the cancer returned in 2019, leading to further chemotherapies and a hysterectomy. “When doctors mentioned the possibility of having my uterus removed during the first surgery, Kathy joked, ‘It’s okay, I’m going to have your babies,'” Sharp recalled. “I thought, how wild would that be?”

Stoner, a dietitian in Franklin, Tennessee, confirmed her offer was genuine. “I was trying to lighten the mood, but it was my way of saying I’m here for you,” she said. Sharp, however, did not take the offer seriously at first. It wasn’t until Sharp went into remission in the spring of 2020 that the sisters revisited the idea. Stoner, who has two children, Ruthie, six, and Sam, four, had always enjoyed easy pregnancies and was eager to help her sister.

The sisters and their husbands had in-depth discussions about what surrogacy would entail. “Sarah and Richard wanted to make sure I didn’t feel pressured,” Stoner said. “We talked a lot about what that would look like. » Creating an embryo was the next step. Although Sharp underwent intensive chemotherapy, the quality of her eggs was not affected and she and her husband managed to create three viable embryos.

“We’ve been through so much with Sarah’s health that a little bit of waiting and unknown was honestly nothing compared to previous years,” Stoner said. Fortunately, the first embryo implanted successfully. “It was really refreshing to get those green lights because we were coming off years of setbacks,” Sharp added. “It was an answer to our prayers.”

Stoner’s pregnancy went well and she is carrying a baby boy. Sharp plans to grab the baby and cut the umbilical cord during delivery. This experience brought the sisters even closer together. “I am so honored and grateful for this incredible gift,” Sharp said. “I never thought in a million years we would have another baby, and the fact that we have a son is incredible.”

Both Sharp and Stoner expressed how special this trip had been. “We learned a lot about each other,” Stoner said. “We have worked together as a team throughout this pregnancy in an incredibly special way.” Sharp agreed, adding: “This trip has been something we will never forget. »