Last week, the channel Seven presenter announced she’s expecting her second child with her husband Marcus via surrogacy.
“Yes, it’s true,” Sally announced, next to an adorable family photo on Instagram.
“Thrilled to bits to share that @marcusobermeder and I are adding to our family thanks to the most incredible surrogate.”
In the picture, her daughter Annabelle holds up a sign that says “I’m going to be a big sister!”
Although the trio couldn’t be happier with their dreams of expanding their family becoming a reality, getting there has been far from idyllic.
In 2011, while Sally was pregnant with her first child, the TV journalist discovered a lump the size of a tennis ball in her breast and was subsequently diagnosed with stage three breast cancer.
Sally posted this heartwarming picture to confirm their happy news.
“She was like, ‘I’m really sorry but you have breast cancer, and it looks like it’s stage three. It’s really aggressive,'” Sally recalled during her Sunday Night interview.
Having to give up the chance to give birth naturally, her pregnancy was induced and straight after Annabelle’s arrival, Sally underwent drastic surgery and began chemotherapy to save her life.
“We had a few minutes to enjoy it, not that long before they separated mum and bub and took Sal immediately from there to start treatment… like immediately,” Marcus remembered.
“The prognosis wasn’t great. It was pretty bad actually.”
Watch Sally’s brave interview in the player below! Post continues after…
The beloved personality endured eight months of chemotherapy and was eventually given the all clear exactly one year from her first life-changing diagnosis.
Despite the illness resulting in Sally being told another natural pregnancy could cost her life, Sally has always wanted a large family.
“I acknowledge that I’m extremely lucky to have one child… But the yearning and desire to be a mum again is so strong and it has not passed,” The Daily Edition host previously said.
“Before I was sick I always pictured I would have two or three children, if I was lucky enough, and I still want that for Annabelle.”
Annabelle can’t wait to begin big sister duties
Celebrating 15 years of marriage, Sally shared this sweet message, “The love continues grow as do the surprises ❤️❤️ @marcusobermeder stealing the show with a surprise speech / singalong / medley of hits that told the story of our 15 years together!”
Thanks to her previous IVF treatment, Sally had four embryos remaining. All she needed was someone to carry them.
Like most Australian states, Sally and Markus’ home in NSW has strict laws on surrogacy, making it illegal to offer financial compensation to someone willing to carry your child.
But if you cross our shores, all the way to the United States of America, it is a very different story.
The family decided to try their chances there, and thanks to Dr Kim Bergman, Sally and Marcus were a step closer to expanding their family.
Before her cancer struck, Sally had hoped to have three children.
“There are a lot of people in Australia who want to have babies through surrogacy. Altruistic surrogacy is a lovely idea but there are not women in Australia coming out of the woodwork wanting to do it,” the LA-based medical professional explained on Sunday Night.
She also added that in the states surrogates are usually paid around $25,000 but her organisation works with women who are willing to help other families for free.
That’s how Sally met her godsend in Rachel.
The Wisconsin native, who is a mum to three girls, had been a surrogate once and wanted to do it again. Making the Aussie family’s dream come true, Sally is only paying for her medical expenses.
Watch Sally meet her American surrogate Rachel in the player below! Post continues after…
“How do you even repay someone, like a bottle of perfume just doesn’t cut it. The gift, I mean, it is priceless,” Sally reflected.
“How amazing that there are people like Rachel in this world, like a woman from the other side of the world who I don’t even know who would do this for me?”
The two mothers met for the first time in December 2014, when both Rachel and Sally flew to LA to have the embryo transferred.
Two weeks later Rachel found out she was pregnant, but sadly the baby didn’t survive the 12 week scan.
Sally was moved to tears by Rachel’s selflessness.
“I felt so helpless,” Rachel told Sunday Night, “I wish she was with me and we could give each other a hug we could console each other, we had to do it from afar.”
Despite the heartache, Rachel wanted to persevere for Sally.
“It started to get to me I started to question whether I was the right person for Sally,” she admitted, following two unsuccessful attempts.
But their final time worked.
Sally discusses the negative impact Australian surrogacy laws had on her family… Continue scrolling for the remainder of the post!
Sally flew over to the States to be with Rachel during her first ultrasound.
“I knew it was there but to see it for myself you know we were both in the room together there’s just, there’s no words,” she said.
“I kind of feel like it’s a miracle, it’s just a hard experience because it’s like I still feel like I’m not carrying this child but I also feel like it’s the most amazing most special experience.”
Keeping the gender a surprise, Sally, Marcus and of course Rachel, will welcome their miraculous bundle of joy in December.
Watch Sally’s full interview with Sunday Night here
