From Cancer Survivor to Motherhood
Domenica's journey from cancer survivor to motherhood is a testament to the power of hope, the strength of community, and the transformative power of IVF.
Read her inspiring story to learn more.
My name is Domenica Fuller, and I am a proud native of South Florida.
Throughout my life's journey, I've embraced various roles – daughter, sister, wife, cancer conqueror, and now, my most important role yet - a mother.
At 29, my breast cancer diagnosis blindsided me and my soon-to-be husband.
Three months before our wedding, in June of 2021, I found a lump in my breast while I was in the shower. Two days later, doctors at Miami Cancer Institute gave me the news: it was cancer, aggressive and advanced.
No genetic markers, no warning signs – just a devastating diagnosis that rocked the very foundation of my world and threatened the life my future husband and I were about to build.
Worst of all, my diagnosis came only a few years after my dad passed away from lung cancer. Both avid runners, neither of us smoked or drank. It was inexplicable that this diagnosis would strike the same family twice, and so close together. While grieving his death, I now had to fight the same battle he lost, without him.
When you're diagnosed with cancer, your desires for this life become very clear. Mine was having children.
But within the same breath I was told I had cancer, what I consider even worse news came next: the cancer treatment that would save my life would make me unable to have children. My only hope? Undergoing emergency IVF immediately, with no guaranteed success.
After a month of emergency IVF, and what I still look back on as the most emotional part of my cancer journey, with the help of Dr. Luis Hoyos at IVF Florida Reproductive Associates, we successfully froze five embryos.
All you have when you're fighting a life-threatening disease is your faith, your family, and hope. IVF gave me that hope. Hope that I will have children. Hope that my husband and I will be called "mom" and "dad.” And hope that, despite cancer, we would build a family together. This is what you cling to in your worst days of treatment. Cancer hates it when you fight back, so I fought back for my future children every single day for six brutal months of treatment (and a wedding!).
After my treatment, my doctors decided it would be too dangerous for me to carry my own children, without risking my cancer returning.
Another roadblock, yes, but I handled this news well. Because I knew I had five embryos. I just needed to find a way to get them here.
So, it became my mission to find a surrogate and an agency that felt like the perfect fit. Against all odds, it all came together: the agency, the surrogate, and my fertility doctor. Then a miracle happened – a successful implantation, our embryo took on the first try!
Nine months later, on October 19th, 2023, I cradled in my arms the culmination of years of struggle and sacrifice – a healthy baby boy, a living testament to the power of resilience, hope, and the indomitable human spirit. We named him Victor – a tribute to the legacy of strength and courage that had carried us through our darkest of days - and most importantly, it was my late father's name.
In his tiny form, we saw not just a baby, but a symbol of victory – a victory over cancer, over despair, over the seemingly insurmountable odds that had threatened to derail our dreams. And as I held my son close, surrounded by the love and support of my family and friends, I knew that our journey was far from over.
Yet, in that moment, I found solace in the knowledge that no matter what challenges lay ahead, we would face them together, as a family. For in the end, it is not the trials we face that define us, but how we choose to confront them – with courage, with hope, and with unwavering determination.
My journey is just one of many, a testament to the importance of IVF for cancer patients and the transformative power of hope in the face of adversity. It is a story of triumph over tragedy, of light emerging from the darkness, and of the enduring strength of the human spirit. And as I look to the future, hand-in-hand with my son and my husband, I do so with a renewed sense of purpose and gratitude for modern technology and reproductive science.
