I gave birth to my late husband’s baby three years after he died from cancer using frozen embryos

• Sian Goodsell, 34, says daughter Matilda is the ‘female version’ of father Jason
• READ MORE: Why I don’t regret the £14,000 I spent freezing my eggs… even though it didn’t result in a much longed-for baby

A widow who gave birth to her late husband’s baby three years after he died using frozen embryos says ‘it’s nice to have a piece of him here’.

Sian Goodsell, 34, and partner, Jason Goodsell, 30, were travelling around Australia in February 2017 when he was diagnosed with stage four bowel and liver cancer.

Jason had proposed just six days before the shock news.

He fought ‘hard and well’ for two years and they froze some of his sperm before he started treatment.

He died on May 3, 2019 – the day he got married – and eventually Sian went ahead with the first embryo transfer and fell pregnant immediately.

Sian Goodsell and her husband Jason Goodsell (both pictured) got engaged six days before he was given a cancer diagnosis

Thanks to freezing Jason’s sperm, Sian was able to give birth to their daughter Matilda (both pictured) three years after his death

Daughter Matilda, now six months old, was born four months prematurely, weighing 1lbs 2oz and spent 17 weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit.

But she is now home and thriving.

Sian, a nurse, from Sydney, Australia, said: ‘I would love to say she looks like me, but she’s the female version of her father.

‘I tell her stories about Jason and I everyday, and talk about what he was like.

‘She’ll pull a face and look just like her dad.

‘I always keep his memory alive and have photos throughout the house.

‘Tilly will always know her dad.

‘It’s tiring being a single mum, but it’s the best thing I ever did, and I would do it over and over to have her here.’

Matilda (pictured at 100 days old) was born four months prematurely. She spent 17 weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit – but it now thriving

Tiny Matilda (pictured) weighed just 1lbs 2oz when she was born – and spent 17 weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit

Sian and Jason met on Tinder in 2014.

He proposed while they were walking down the beach at sunset in Bunbury, Western Australia, before he was diagnosed.

‘He was so young,’ she said.

‘He had radiation, chemotherapy, then had surgery and was fitted with an ileostomy bag.

‘None of that was working and he decided to stop it.’

The couple were legally married on May 3, 2019, and were due to celebrate with a wedding party at Pioneer Village, Wilberforce, Sydney, the following day.

But Jason died the night of his legal ceremony.

Sian later decided she was ready to go ahead and try IVF, using embryos made with Jason’s sperm. 

The couple (pictured) met on Tinder in 2014, before getting engaged in 2017, six days before Jason’s shock cancer diagnosis. They wed in 2019

Jason (pictured) was diagnosed with stage four bowel and liver cancer in 2017. He died in May 2019

Falling pregnant on the first round, she was having a textbook pregnancy until she went into ‘extremely early’ labour.

After heading to Nepean Hospital, Sydney, Sian was informed she was in labour.

‘I thought they were wrong,’ she said.

‘I knew how early she was an I didn’t want it to be true, as a nurse I know how dangerous it can be.’

Despite having steroids and being put on a magnesium drip to slow her labour, Matilda was ‘too impatient’, and was born naturally at 4.56pm on December 26, 2022.

Sian shared this picture of her dog Rufus to announce her pregnancy with Matilda, who was born in December last year

‘I didn’t get to hold her,’ Sian said.

‘She was taken away but was breathing on her own for 15 minutes, and then was intubated to get taken to the NICU.

‘I still couldn’t believe she was here.’

After three weeks at Nepean Hospital, Matilda was transferred to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, after developing necrotising enterocolitis (NEC).

NEC is a serious condition in which tissues in the intestine become inflamed and start to die.

This can lead to a perforation developing, which allows the contents of the intestine to leak into the abdomen.

Matilda (pictured with her surgeon) had to undergo a four-hour surgery in January to fix her perforated bowel

On January 18, 2023, doctors operated for four hours to fix Matilda’s perforated bowel.

She was fitted with an ileostomy bag – which was later reversed – and spent the next 17 weeks and two days in the special Grace Centre NICU.

‘I stayed at the hospital full-time,’ Sian said.

‘It was hard not having Jason there, to not have someone who was going through what I was.’

Finally, on May 17, 2023, Matilda was discharged from the NICU.

‘It was exciting and overwhelming to be coming home,’ Sian said.

According to Sian (pictured) she had a ‘textbook’ pregnancy – until Matilda (pictured) was born extremely prematurely 

Sian (pictured with baby Matilda) says she is ‘absolutely loving being a mum’, and that people are shocked by how well her daughter is doing after being born so prematurely

‘She’s now officially 6lbs 8oz.

‘She’s nice and happy, and I’m absolutely loving being a mum.

‘Everyone I speak with can’t believe how well she’s doing after being so premature.

‘I believe Jason was with her every step of the way, looking out for her.

‘I just know he’s the reason she’s doing so well.’

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