hollywoodtone.blogspot.com A loyal friend delivers the gift of life after a tragic loss
hollywoodtone.blogspot.com A loyal friend delivers the gift of life after a tragic loss
Des Moines - A Iowa woman's baby is born by surrogacy just four months after her death from cancer, as hope is born out of a tragic loss.
Laura Yoho died peacefully shortly after her baby shower in July, she would never get to see her unborn baby Caralyn that would be born just four months later. A child being carried by her surrogate and best friend Kara Stetson. 30-year-old Laura Yoho had just been engaged to be married to Nate Yoho when she collapsed at a gym in 2010 where she was a fitness instructor. Doctors had though the young woman had had an stroke, however following a second opinion it was determined that Yoho was suffering from brain cancer. Nate and Laura decided to have eggs frozen determined despite cancer to have a family. Kara Stetson didn't think twice when asked to be a surrogate.
"It's such an amazing gift. There are no words that could possibly recreate what she's done for myself and my family," Nate said.This Christmas Caralyn Yoho will be 1-month old and her mother will have been gone for just five months.
"I just felt so happy that there was something I could do for her family and his family, and selfishly for me, to keep a part of Laura alive on this Earth." Kara said.The Des Moines Register ran an open letter to baby Caralyn, in it her father and surrogate mother try to explain how tragedy gave birth to love and a new beginning.
"You’re barely a month old now, too young to read this letter. But one day soon, someone will show you this, and maybe it will help you understand the wonderful confluence of love and hope that brought you into this world." The open letter reads.Laura tried her best to fight the disease that would take her life in order to live to see the baby. Last December a brain scan showed that the tumors were shrinking, giving the Yoho family hope, but that hope was fleeting.
"It’s hard to explain what having a best friend like Laura for 24 years meant to me. We were different enough and alike enough to get along perfectly. We never argued. We never got sick of one another. We were like sisters, soul mates and a best friend all rolled into one." Kara Stetson writes in the open letter.After Caralynn's birth Nate Yoho stayed with Laura's family in an up and down roller coaster of emotions as he settled in as a new father.
"Part of it's having a little bit of my wife back. I can see her when my daughter smiles," Nate Yoho says.
hollywoodtone.blogspot.com A loyal friend delivers the gift of life after a tragic loss