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Surrogate gives baby hopes to husband who lost wife to cancer at 31

A grieving young man, whose childhood sweetheart died from cancer less than a year after the pair married, plans to have his late wife's baby through a surrogate.

Emily Collett, 31, was diagnosed in March 2016 and tragically died in June this year, just shy of a year of marriage.

Jack Coates met his late wife when they were both just 11 years old and dated for a number of years before drifting apart during university years.

Mrs Coates was diagnosed in March 2016. Photo: JustGiving
Mrs Coates was diagnosed in March 2016. Photo: JustGiving

Even though Mr Coates, 32, was working as a doctor in Sydney and she was a teacher in London, the couple managed to reconnect and rekindle their romance after "ten long years".

But the day before the pair were due to set off on holiday to the Philippines in March last year - where Mr Coates planned to propose - Mrs Coates received the "heartbreaking news" she had thyroid cancer at just 30 years old.

The pair didn't want to wait to get married, and wed in September last year. Photo: Facebook
The pair didn't want to wait to get married, and wed in September last year. Photo: Facebook

"Given the circumstances and a new outlook on life we thought ‘why wait’," Mrs Coates wrote on a Just Giving page last year, announcing their September 3 wedding.

In June, Mr Coates confirmed in a Facebook post his wife had died, saying he felt "utterly lost and empty without her."

"She was my north, my south, my east, my west. The reason I wanted to wake up every morning and be a better person," he wrote.

The young bride tragically passed away before she had the chance to make her dream of having a family with her sweetheart.

The young woman tragically died in June from thyroid cancer. Photo: JustGiving
The young woman tragically died in June from thyroid cancer. Photo: JustGiving

Through a surrogate and a frozen egg, Mr Coates has the chance to have the baby he and his late wife always dreamed of.

“Having a part of Emmy would be the best thing ever,” he told The Mirror. “I know how much she wanted to be a mum.”

Shortly after doctors told Emmy she was not able to carry a child during chemotherapy, she shared the heartbreak of not being able to become a mother in a vlog.

Emmy Collett was shattered to learn she would not be able to fall pregnant while having chemo, and would miss out on having a baby with her husband. Photo: JustGiving
Emmy Collett was shattered to learn she would not be able to fall pregnant while having chemo, and would miss out on having a baby with her husband. Photo: JustGiving

"Jake would be the best dad in the whole wide world so that's something I find very hard to emotionally and psychologically deal with," she told.

"That affects me so much more than being ill because you can fight an illness. But I hate that Jake is having to make these sacrifices for me because he's the most amazing person in the world and he'd be the best dad in the world.

"As his wife I should be able to give him that and I can't."

The couple met when they were both just 11 years old and were childhood sweethearts. Photo: JustGiving
The couple met when they were both just 11 years old and were childhood sweethearts. Photo: JustGiving

Her blog caught the attention of former schoolmate Liz, a 32-year-old single mother.

The couple, who described Liz as their "angel" began the surrogacy process while Mrs Coates was still fighting cancer and Liz had became pregnant. But, sadly, in the week after Mrs Coates' death, doctors confirmed Liz was experiencing an ectopic pregnancy and the foetus could no be saved.

Mr Coates told the Mirror how his wife would have been at peace knowing the couple would become parents.

Emmy's embryos were harvested and a surrogate and Jake hopes to have his wife's baby with the help of a surrogate.  Picture: Facebook
Emmy's embryos were harvested and a surrogate and Jake hopes to have his wife's baby with the help of a surrogate. Picture: Facebook

“Up until she died, we were pregnant,” he said.

With six harvested embryos left, Mr Coates and Liz are planing a second surrogacy attempt later this month.

“It might even be more significant now because a part of Emmy can live on,” Liz told the Mirror.