CEDAR SPRINGS, Mich. — It’s been a difficult year for a Michigan mother. Kelly Francis lost her newborn daughter Avery just six months ago, and now she’s preparing to say goodbye to her husband Jake.
The couple has been together since 2004, surviving a cancer scare just a few months into dating. Jake was diagnosed with testicular cancer, but after chemo he was cancer free.
The couple married in 2007, and after five years cancer free -they thought they were in the clear.
“When you reach five years of not having cancer, you’re considered cured,” Kelly said. “So, August of 2009, we were so celebratory that we made it through the five years we never have to worry about this again.”
But unfortunately Jake was diagnosed with a different form of testicular cancer, and this time treatment wouldn’t help.
The couple decided to take a chance and try for the family they so badly wanted, and Kelly became pregnant with twins, a boy and girl.
“I was so overwhelmed and blessed of course and feeling so grateful that I had two children,” Kelly said. “But, I was scared because I knew someday I’d be raising them on my own.”
Nearly halfway through her pregnancy they learned their daughter had multicycstic dysplastic kidneys, which prevented her lungs from growing. Avery died shortly after birth.
The couple while grieving their daughter, rejoiced the birth of their Son.
Jake’s cancer has continued progress, and in January he was given six months to live.
“I feel like we were blessed with twins because Jake is too good of a father not to be one in heaven,” Kelly said. “He gets Avery in heaven and I get Evan here.”
