>> The really bright white part is the catheter.
And then right around it, in that fluid is the embryo.
So we literally have a picture of our embryo
before we even knew like, that we were pregnant.
I come from a family of three, I've always wanted kids,
That's always been like a dream.
To be told that there's a chance
that you wouldn't be able to,
it was a hard pill to swallow.
But your brain in that moment
is tackling like the biggest problem.
And the biggest problem was not fertility at the moment.
The biggest problem was the cancer.
(water running)
We met when I was 18-
>> Jon: And I was 21, working at a restaurant together.
>> My mom said I came home and I said, I met a guy
and I think I'm gonna marry him and I
I don't remember that conversation but I remember
a whole lot, but see, that's what she told me.
And I did.( laughing)
>> Jon: We had been dating for about five months
when she got the diagnosis.
>> The kind of tumor that I had was called
papillary serous cystadenoma.
The treatment was to remove the tumor
and hopefully keep the ovary.
I was 19, so they wanted to keep what they could.
So they did the surgery.
This was my doctor here in Pennsylvania.
But unfortunately at the end there was just too much tumor.
So they ended up taking the whole right side out.
>> You know, we just continued to date as normal, right?
And were planning our wedding when it sort of came back.
>> Kate: So there was about a five-year break.
My annual checkup showed a mass
on my remaining ovary, on my left side.
>> It was unlikely that we'd be able to harvest any eggs
because of where the tumor was located.
He didn't think there would be a doctor willing to
go in and try and pull the eggs for fertilization.
>> Kate: And that was when we were both like,
oh, this is serious.
What about, what about babies?
>> Jon: And so I believe he had called around
or talked to several places
and that's when he found someone that was going to do it.
>> There was a colleague of his at Hopkins,
she was very confident that she could
remove eggs from a ovary with a tumor
and not go near the tumor.
>> Yeah. At Johns Hopkins, we're used to working with
very complicated patients and fertility is so important
to so many women and it's such an important part
of cancer survivorship.
So she underwent fertility preservation.
>> Our oldest son, our first time trying to have a baby.
It did take four, you know, four times to get pregnant.
But we felt so confident in our faith and
in the doctors that this is where we were supposed to be.
>> It was nice that both the fertility center, as well
as the doctor who was handling the surgery to remove
the ovary were all from Hopkins and all working together.
You know, as one big team, we didn't have to worry
about like a miscommunication and back and forth.
>> Dr. Mindy: It's not just a fertility center.
We also have other experts such as genetic counselors,
our oncology team, there's also
assisted reproductive technology team.
When we do an embryo transfer for a patient
sometimes we'll say the embryologist is actually
the baby's first babysitter.
>> We reflected a lot on the how medicine has progressed.
At the time we were going through, you know
the first harvesting of the eggs.
A lot of that medication had only been
on the market for several years.
>> We're always looking at how we can help
expand patient care.
And at the time, 10 years ago, what we were doing
for Kate was considered innovative.
And now, obviously we have many more exciting fertility
preservation treatments available.
What that will mean is that there's gonna be more options
for patients who may not have time to retrieve eggs.
It gives options for very young patients
who were unable to do an egg retrieval.
So really expands the number of patients we're able to help
>> Kate: Hold on tight.
(scream)
So the journey was a long journey.
It's, you know, it started in 2006 and it really,
we were with Hopkins until our last daughter was born
and that was in 2018.
So this has been a relationship with them.
>> So as a mother myself, really, I can't imagine my life
without my children.
And so for women who wanna have children,
already know that it's important to them to be able to
help give them that gift and that hope
is really important to me.
>> Kate: To be able to have hope and
the opportunity that we had,
you don't take this for granted.
(calm piano music)