Cassandra Bacon was 17 years old when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. This is a rare disease of blood cancer.
His cancer was initially under control after a round of chemotherapy. But after a year the cancer returned and this time it was more serious than before.
Doctors told Bacon that he would have to start more aggressive chemotherapy immediately.
He told the BBC World Service program NewsHour: "At that age when you're learning to drive and preparing for final exams at school, you don't want to go through something like this. It was a very difficult time."
Bacon was a teenager at that time. Despite this, she was wondering what effect the treatment would have on her body in the future and how her chances of becoming a mother in the future could be saved.
They didn't have time to wait till the next period. This wait was necessary for the process of retrieving and freezing your eggs.
Therefore Bacon insisted on adopting another method. At that time this method was seen as an experiment.
In this, some parts of the egg-producing tissue from the ovaries are removed and frozen and later re-introduced into the body.
Tissue samples extracted from Bacon's ovaries were kept frozen for 23 years.
When she turned 44, these tissues were re-implanted into her body. Last month she gave birth to her first child. His son's name is Landon.
It is believed that Landon is the first child in the world to be born after replanting ovarian tissue that had been frozen for more than 20 years.
Recalling her teenage days, Bacon says that she always wanted to be a mother.
When she faced the possibility that she might not be able to give birth to her child, she wanted to do anything to maintain hope.
She says, "I don't know why, but I was not ready to accept that if what I feared happened and I was unable to conceive naturally, then nothing could be done to give me hope."
Egg freezing is a common method used for women who may have trouble conceiving naturally in the future.
But before removing the eggs, hormone injections have to be taken for several weeks. Doctors told Bacon he didn't have much time.
Bacon convinced doctors to remove some tissue from her ovaries before treatment began.
After this he met Dr. Sarah Mathews. She was one of the few surgeons in Britain who could perform this special type of surgery.
Dr. Matthews removed four small samples of tissue from Bacon's ovaries.
But at that time there was no guarantee that a child would be born in future with the help of these tissues.
To save Bacon's life, he underwent a bone marrow transplant and was given chemotherapy. This treatment was successful and she was once again free from cancer.
But as doctors feared, this aggressive treatment caused significant damage to her ovaries. Bacon went through premature menopause at the age of 33. That means their menstruation has stopped.
Now she wanted a child. After this, he tried for ten years to find a doctor who could transplant his frozen healthy tissues back into his body.
When Bacon had surgery to remove tissue from her ovaries, there was no law in Britain related to this procedure.
This meant she did not have the necessary documentation needed to transplant the ovarian tissue back into the body 20 years later.
Dr. Mathews supported him throughout this endeavor. Ultimately he helped Bacon find a clinic in Israel that was willing to perform the procedure.
The frozen tissues were sent to Sheba Medical Center in the city of Ramat Gan, Israel. But the process for which Bacon had been waiting for a long time was delayed when Hamas fighters attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
After this, Israel started large-scale military action in Gaza.
Bacon told the BBC World Service, "I thought, is my only hope going to end?"
There was a brief ceasefire in May 2024. Because of this, Bacon was able to go to Israel and her tissues were safely transplanted back into her body.
The ceasefire ended within hours of him boarding a plane to return to Britain.
She says, "You can't even write such a story."
How is ovarian tissue reinserted into the body? The surgeon removes parts of the egg-producing tissue from the ovaries.
These are kept frozen in the laboratory until the patient is ready to have a child.
The process of reinserting these tissues into the body is like transplanting a part of the skin to another place.
The frozen tissue is thawed and placed over or near the remaining ovary.
After this, these tissues can reconnect with the surrounding blood vessels and the ovary can start releasing an egg every month.
According to a study conducted in the year 2024, in 94 percent of the cases, the menstrual cycle and egg production cycle of women starts again.
According to another study in 2022, a live child was born in about 28 percent of cases of reimplantation of ovarian tissue into the body.
In 2016, 24-year-old Moza Al Matrushi, a resident of Dubai, was considered the first woman in the world to freeze her ovaries before giving birth to a child. Her ovaries were frozen before she started adolescence.
It is estimated that more than 200 children have been born worldwide after replanting ovarian tissue.
In the year 2024, Bacon returned to menstruating just a few months after the tissues were reinserted into his body.
She tried to conceive naturally, but was unsuccessful.
After this, doctors advised Bacon and his partner to undergo IVF.
Both of them underwent IVF thrice. Finally, on Christmas Day, 2025, Bacon had a pregnancy test in her hand.
She says, "The ability in my body to become a mother at the age of 19 gave me a new life at the age of 43."
Bacon's son Landon was born in September this year. Bacon has been cancer free for the last 25 years.
After sharing her story with people, Bacon has received a large number of messages from women. These women said that their story gave them courage.
Dr. Matthews says that nowadays more importance than ever is given to discussing the options for becoming parents in the future with young patients battling cancer.
She says, "I still try to put myself at 18 and think, how did I keep trying so hard? How did I stick to my decision so strongly?"
“I think it's one of those things I have to look back at and thank myself for.”
