Everybody needs good neighbours. But in the case of Naomi Armitage, hers went above and beyond the call of duty…and became a surrogate for the child she couldn’t have.
Hayley Wells offered to help Mrs Armitage after learning of her plight in a doorstep chat.
Mrs Armitage, 33, had been diagnosed with cervical cancer and radiotherapy was going to destroy her dream of motherhood.
Her only hope of having a child was to undergo a course of IVF with husband Richard, 31, before the treatment and then find a surrogate to carry the embryo.
Mrs Wells, a mother of three, happily stepped in and now the Armitages have been blessed with what they call their ‘miracle baby’, seven-month-old Amelie Mireya.
Mrs Armitage said: ‘The first thing I said to the consultant when he told me I had cancer was chop my arm off but don’t tell me I can’t have children. It was the only thing that was important to me.
‘Then within a week of being told I would never have children I had found my surrogate. Amelie is a dream baby in more ways than one and is all I focused on throughout my radiotherapy.’
The Armitages, who have been together for three years, had just started trying for a baby in 2011 when Naomi went for a routine smear test.
A week later she was told there were some abnormal cells and the following month she was diagnosed with cervical cancer.
Mrs Armitage added: ‘My friends told me to focus on the treatment and getting better but all that was important to me was having a baby.
‘It was frustrating because at that point I had all the right bits to have a baby but every time I went for radiotherapy it felt like it was another step in ruining the chances of me having children.
‘I spent the weekend trying to find out about surrogacy but I couldn’t find any help and started to think it was more and more uncommon.’
On the Monday she was stood on her doorstep waiting for a friend to arrive when she started chatting to Mrs Wells, her neighbour of four years.
She was outside with her youngest child who was being naughty and jokingly asked Mrs Armitage ‘do you want her?’ Mrs Armitage said: ‘Because of the circumstances I welled up. I said I would have her. I ended up telling her the news and she said of course I will be your surrogate.
The couple, from Leicester, have 12 more eggs frozen so may have another child
‘I didn’t her expect her to actually do it for us. We didn’t know each other too well, we hadn’t even been in each other’s houses.’
Amelie was born five weeks prematurely on January 5 this year after Mrs Wells was implanted with one of the embryos created by the IVF.
She was given the middle name Mireya – a Spanish name meaning ‘miracle’. Mrs Armitage is now clear of cancer and the couple are legal parents to Amelie, as well as genetic parents. The couple have 12 embryos still frozen so have not ruled out having another baby.
Mrs Armitage added: ‘For now, just Amelie is perfect, she’s beautiful. It just shows that if you put your mind to it, anything is possible.
‘We were very lucky, Hayley gave us an incredible gift and we will be thanking her for the rest of our lives.’
Dailymail
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