(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — After a devastating cancer diagnosis in 2018, a Batavia woman is celebrating not only her life, but that of her miracle daughter who turned 1 on Thursday.
“Just to be able to sit here today and say that I'm cancer-free, I have a baby, like, those are things you just, you’d always hoped they’d come true,” said Ioanna Lo Destro. “And the fact that you're living for the day that you used to pray about, and I'm healthy, I mean, that's all that matters.”
Lo Destro has a great team of doctors at Northwestern Medicine to thank for helping with both of those major life events, after she was diagnosed with advanced-Leukemia one day before she was scheduled to start in vitro fertilization.
“I said, ‘Can we have a couple weeks to just get some eggs out?’ and she said, ‘You won't be here in a couple weeks,’” Lo Destro told WBBM.
Lo Destro and her husband Grant opted to put their dream of starting a family on hold so Ioanna could focus on her chemo and other treatments.
Once it was safe enough to revisit IVF, though, a team of oncofertility specialists helped her realize her dream of becoming a mom.
Dr. Lia Bernardi was part of that team.
“Ioanna came to us with some things working against her … and ultimately, we were able to be successful and help her build her family in the way that she wanted,” Bernardi said.
Ioanna and Grant welcomed their daughter Penelope into the world on Oct. 24, 2023.
“She is everything,” Ioanna said.
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