Danni Kiernan was devastated when she lost her great love to cancer, but their dreams of a family did not die with him.
Cuddling up to her mum Danni Kiernan, and giving big brother Harry a cheeky smile, little Nina has no idea of all the fuss she’s been creating.
“People come up to me and say there’s something special about her,” says Danni, 46. “And there is. She’s like a little angel.”
Just like brother Harry, 5, Nina has made Australian history after being “conceived” via IVF treatment, following her father Michael Calogerakis’s death to cancer.
“Nina has been a frozen embryo for six years,” says Danni with a smile. “She was part of the same batch of embryos that Harry came out of, so they really are siblings. What makes it even more amazing is that she is here at all.”
The happy family scene is a far cry from the days following Michael’s death in December, 2000.
“I was devastated,” says Danni. “I don’t think you ever get over losing the person you love.”
Danni, a Brisbane advertising representative, had fallen for Michael, a furniture upholsterer, 11 years earlier, during a night out with a girlfriend.
“It sounds like a cliché, but our eyes met and that was it. He had the most beautiful soft brown eyes – just like Harry has now.”
The couple were living life to the fullest until Michael, then 39, was diagnosed with a virulent form of nasal cancer. He endured radiation therapy, chemotherapy and surgery, and the couple began IVF treatment in a bid to start a family before it was too late.
“We didn’t go into it lightly,” says Danni. “Michael knew that if we had a baby he may not be around to see it grow up. He wondered if it was fair to me and to the baby, but in the end, he knew how much it meant to me.”
Danni hoped Michael would live to meet his child, but the first embryo transplant ended in a miscarriage. Sadly, he died four days before Christmas, not knowing that Danni was pregnant again…
For the full story see this week’s issue of Woman’s Day (on-sale June 4).
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