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Nicole Loft had always wanted to be a mother, but a breast cancer diagnosis at just 30 left her afraid her dream of having a family would never come true.
Her life-changing diagnosis meant she needed chemotherapy and underwent IVF twice to collect her eggs.
Nicole, now 35 from Melbourne, always wanted to be a mother, but was warned by doctors that her chances of conceiving a baby were slim after treatment.
“At the time, I didn’t think there was any hope and put it in the back of my mind,” he told FEMAIL.
But to her surprise, she managed to get pregnant after dating a man she met online who she is still with today and gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Kiaan, last year.
“He is my everything, I am very grateful,” she said.
Nicole Loft (pictured in 2018) was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 30 after being told she tested positive for the BRCA1 gene at 25. The treatment required to kill the cancer meant her chances of getting pregnant decreased .
The now 35-year-old told FEMAIL that she did not take the news lightly, as she always wanted to be a mother and start a family (pictured at 25)
But against all odds, she got pregnant naturally and gave birth to a beautiful baby boy (pictured left) last year.
When she was 25, a blood test confirmed she had the BRCA1 gene mutation, which meant she had a 72 percent chance of developing breast cancer, instead of the average lifetime risk of 12 percent for women. australian
“I found out we could have the gene when I was about 23 years old, but I decided to wait until I was 25 to get tested,” she told FEMAIL, adding that she wasn’t ready to hear the news yet.
‘I had a feeling it was going to be positive. My sister and brother were negative and I thought there was no way the three of us could get away with it.
‘I was incredibly anxious. I suffered quite a bit from mental health issues and got sick from it, it had a huge impact.
Nicole first underwent a double mucosectomy followed by two rounds of IVF to preserve her fertility and then six months of chemotherapy in 2018 (pictured during chemotherapy)
When Nicole and her husband divorced in 2020, the embryo could not be used. She underwent IVF again to further preserve her fertility, but it was unsuccessful and her specialist said she “doesn’t make sense” to try again.
For the next five years, she underwent biannual breast cancer checkups when an MRI detected six lumps in her left breast.
“It was an extremely stressful time where I started to get ‘scan anxiety,'” Nicole said.
On Valentine’s Day 2018, doctors broke the devastating news that the lumps had been confirmed to be cancerous.
“They found him early, and I’m very lucky because he had a very aggressive type of breast cancer, it’s called triple negative,” she said.
A few months passed when she decided to give online dating a try and was matched up with a lovely man named Vijay (pictured left). “I took a pregnancy test and saw a very faint second line, so I had to go out and buy a second test…I was really surprised when it came back positive as well,” she said.
Nicole chose to have a double mucosectomy since the cancer had a 40 percent chance of coming back in the other breast if only one breast was removed.
She underwent a grueling 12-hour surgery that involved moving some of her stomach tissue to replace it where her breasts were.
She then had two rounds of IVF: the first collected five eggs and an embryo was formed, but the second round collected none.
‘I didn’t want to know what my statistics and chances of having a baby were. I was going through enough mentally already,” she said.
Nicole says that becoming a mother has “completely changed her life” and that she is a “different person than she was before” having a baby. ‘I could never imagine not being there for Kiaan. I feel incredibly lucky,’ she said.
He started chemotherapy in March 2018 for six months and then needed to see the doctors every three to six months.
Nicole and her husband of nine years divorced in 2020, and the embryo formed from IVF was no longer usable.
She underwent IVF again to further preserve her fertility, but it was unsuccessful and her specialist said there was “no point” in trying again.
“Going through IVF again was very traumatic and stressful. My hormones were all over the place, which was not helping my mental health,” she said.
A few months passed when she decided to give online dating a try and got matched with a man named Vijay.
“I took a pregnancy test and saw a very faint second line, so I had to go out and buy a second test… I was very surprised when it came back positive as well,” she said.
Nicole says that becoming a mother has “completely changed her life” and that she is a “different person than she was before” having a baby.
‘I could never imagine not being there for Kiaan. I feel incredibly lucky,” she said.
One of the most important lessons that Nicole has learned throughout the entire ordeal is how strong the body can be. “You feel like a different person on the other side of cancer treatment — you’re stronger and more resilient,” she said (pictured here with her mother, who also has the BRCA1 gene).
One of the most important lessons that Nicole has learned throughout the entire ordeal is how strong the body can be.
“You feel like a different person on the other side of cancer treatment — you’re stronger and more resilient,” she said.
“From the beginning, Pink Hope has supported me, for which I am very grateful.”
You can find out your potential risk of having the BRCA gene through Pink Hope’s Know Your Risk test. here.