Several years ago, Ryan Davis' life was forever changed by cancer. But it wasn't her own diagnosis that altered the way she looked at the world — it was her father's. Before he died from the disease, she became friends with a cancer survivor named Amber Jordan, whose body had been so ravaged by the effects of treatment that she was told she could never have children. The pair soon became fast friends, and this year, Davis gave her the ultimate gift when she gave birth to Jordan's first child, by way of surrogacy.
Davis says that from the moment she met Jordan, the pair connected on another level.
Jordan lives in Louisiana, while Davis lives in Texas. But the bond the women created several years ago has grown stronger, despite their distance.
"There was something about her and about her story, and everything we were going through that I had to turn it into something positive," Davis told KTRK.
She certainly has.
Several weeks ago, Davis gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Willow June.
"She gave me and my family the greatest gift," Jordan told the news outlet.
But even though baby Willow is happy and healthy and here to stay, Jordan still can't believe she's finally "Mom."
"I still think somebody is going to come and say, 'Okay, your dream is over. We're taking the baby away,'" Jordan shared.
Jordan is just one of the millions of women who undergo cancer treatment each year and risk harm to their reproductive systems.
According to Cancer.org, it's not just chemo that can harm fertility outcomes, either. So can hormone therapy, radiation therapy, surgery (if the tumor is near the reproductive organs), and bone marrow transplants.
In Jordan's case, she froze embryos with the hopes of one day being able to at least welcome a baby through surrogacy — but it would take another 10 years until that dream became a reality.
As for Davis, she's just happy to create something positive out of all of this.
"I didn't want to be the girl whose dad just died from cancer," she told KTKR. "I wanted to turn that into something more, and something bigger, and helped someone who had been through cancer themselves."
Davis remembers her dad as fun-loving and "goofy" — the "ultimate dad jokester" who is deeply missed, even to this day.
But now, with the birth of Willow, and the beginning of a new chapter, there is at least a bit of new hope to this story. Where there was once only emptiness, there is now new life and happiness — something that cancer couldn't take away.
