I spent £12k on IVF but fear my dream of becoming a mum gave me cancer (Photos)

After more than 12 years, £12,000, and 12 rounds of IVF, Lindsay and Jon Hall, who once feared they might never have children, have finally created their perfect family.

When twins Esme and Oliver, now one, finally came along four years after son Taylor, five, it was a dream come true.

But their joy was short-lived. Just months after the twins were born, Lindsay found a lump in her breast and she was diagnosed with stage three aggressive breast cancer.

The couple were distressed to find it was possible that the cancer had been fuelled by hormones released during pregnancy.

But Lindsay says that although her quest for a family may have contributed to her illness, she has no regrets.

She says: “It’s ironic to think that having my family might have played a part in my cancer – but they are my world and I don’t regret anything. A life without children wasn’t an option for me and Jon.”

Beauty therapist Lindsay, who has already been through chemotherapy treatment and a double mastectomy, was last week given the wonderful news that she is now cancer-free.

She now needs to undergo radiotherapy to stop it returning and afterwards plans to have a hysterectomy to reduce any further threat.

Lindsay, now 33, says: “It took me and my husband a long time to get our family, and there was no way on this earth I was ready to leave them.

"There were times I worried that I had gone to such lengths to bring them into the world, only to have to leave them. But I tried not to dwell on it and kept fighting, because they needed me.

“It’s thought that my type of cancer fed on the hormones in pregnancy, and I can’t help wondering if all the years I spent injecting myself with hormones for IVF have played a part.

“I asked my consultant outright if IVF had given me cancer, and he wouldn’t answer. But it wouldn’t have made any difference – I would still have gone ahead with it.”

Lindsay was 20 when she married Jon, a professional wheelchair basketball player, and they began trying for a baby straight away.

But when nothing happened, tests were arranged and she was told she was suffering with ­unexplained infertility.

IVF was the only option, so the couple, from Chesterfield in Derbyshire, saved hard, going without luxuries to fund the procedure. Heartbreakingly, she failed to conceive.

Over the next seven years she endured 10 cycles of IVF at a cost of £7,000 before eventually becoming pregnant with Taylor.

She was then 28, and thrilled. She says: “Holding him in my arms was the most amazing feeling. IVF had been a rollercoaster, but he was worth every second.”

Lindsay admits she gave little thought to the hormones she had injected into her body during each cycle.

“You don’t question it really,” she says. “All you can think about is having a baby.”