05/08/2026
Widow Welcomes Husband’s Twins Three Years After His Death Through IVF
Three years after losing her husband to throat cancer, a young widow has fulfilled a promise to him by bringing their children into the world.
Lucy Kelsall, 27, from Bristol, gave birth to twin boys using IVF with s***m her husband David had frozen before his death at 45. The couple had married in 2012 and, before he passed away in 2017, Lucy promised him he would one day become a father.
Despite being warned that her chances of conceiving were very low, Lucy went ahead with treatment. After her second round of IVF, she received unexpected news — she was pregnant with twins.
“He would have been an amazing father,” Lucy said. “The birth was so emotional, and I still can’t quite believe I have a part of David with me forever.”
She sees pieces of him in their sons every day. “One has his long legs and big feet — he had size 15 feet — and the other has his green eyes,” she said.
Doctors had initially been doubtful about the success of the treatment, warning that her womb might not be the right environment for implantation. But Lucy was determined to try. “When they told me there were two heartbeats, even the doctors were amazed,” she recalled.
The couple’s journey had been marked by heartbreak. Just two years after their wedding, David, a mental health worker, was diagnosed with a secondary tumour in his throat. Over the following years, he endured 99 rounds of radiotherapy and major surgery, including the removal of his voice box, eventually relying on an electronic device to communicate.
Before his condition worsened, the couple had already begun trying for a baby. Knowing treatment could leave him infertile, they made the decision to freeze his s***m. In the final days of his life, Lucy promised she would use it to have his child.
David passed away in 2017 after the tumour became inoperable. Lucy remembers their final moments together vividly. “He came home from hospital, and I was looking forward to a quiet night together. But everything changed so quickly,” she said. “He was such an incredible, caring and intelligent man.”
Now, with the arrival of their sons — named David and Samuel — Lucy says she has found hope again.
David’s mother, Wilma, shared both her grief and joy. “It’s bittersweet. I miss my son deeply, but I’m so happy for Lucy,” she said. “I never thought I’d get the chance to be a grandmother to his children.”
She added that David would have been overjoyed. “He would look at them in amazement. These boys are such a gift.”
Lucy is determined to keep David’s memory alive for their children. “I’ll tell them about their dad every day,” she said. “I have photo albums of our life together, and we’ll visit places he loved, like the seaside and Penarth Pier, where I scattered his ashes.”
She has even saved some of his ashes for the boys, so they can one day take part in honoring their father themselves.
“Having these boys means David will never be forgotten,” Lucy said. “They’ve given me a future again.”