Motherhood after childhood cancer: Cécile’s Story – From Grief to Grace: How We Became a Family After Cancer

It was over for me: I wouldn’t have a child, I wouldn’t carry a child. You have to accept it—especially since there are times when it feels like all you see are pregnant women around you. It’s horrible.

Then we submitted an application to adopt a child. I had to involve the pediatric oncologist so they would understand that yes, I had cancer, it’s true. But it was several years ago, and today everything is fine—physically, at least. I walk with a crutch, but I live a normal life.

From there, we waited. There was nothing else to do. The file was complete. We had the approval—we just had to wait. And fortunately, we got that approval. We waited a year for each of them, and we were able to adopt two little Parisians.

It was the most beautiful gift in the world.

📝 Cécile Favre, from the association Les Aguerris, shares her personal experience of becoming a mother after surviving childhood cancer. The interview was originally recorded in French as part of the MOOC “Cancer de l’enfant : bien vivre après”, and has been automatically translated into English using the AI tool HeyGen.
🎵 Final music by yse sauvage.