Ruth Schofield

I studied for my degree in Industrial Food Technology at Humberside College of Higher Education. I worked for two years as a Food Technlogist at Bernard Matthews in Norfolk but then decided to become a Primary Teacher and so studied for my Post Graduate Certificate of Education at UEA, Norwich.

I worked as a teacher for three years in West Yorkshire before deciding to resign from my job, sell my car and backpack for a year 'around the world' with my boyfriend Robert. This proved to be a fantastic experience - a great adventure and lifelong ambition and one which neither of us would forget.

On our return home, Robert secured a job in the food industry in Leyland and I found a teaching post in Great Harwood. We therefore moved to Blackburn, Lancashire and were married in March 1996. We started trying for children soon after we were married.

This was the beginning of a long and difficult journey - one which we never imagined in our wildest dreams. After about three years of trying with no success, we decide to try fertility treatment and then IVF. We were lucky enough to live in an authority that gave us three free attempts at IVF and were referred to St. James Hospital in Leeds.

However, we were not lucky enough to succeed and after 3/4 cycles of IVF, we decided to stop. Our disappointment was immeasurable - especially since we had been given no reason for our failure to conceive.

We still longed for a child and after much consideration, decided to look into the process of adoption. We knew that a baby would be very hard to come by but were more than happy to adopt a toddler.

Our first meeting went well and we were looking forward to our second. It never came! After a series of on/off headaches and some nagging from his wife, Robert went for a routine check up and blood test at the doctors. Robert was diagnosed with Chronic Myloid Leukaemia in December 2001.

We were absolutely devastated. How could this be when we finally thought we were getting somewhere in our struggle for a child and certainly when Robert hadn't suffered from any symptoms or even felt poorly. His white blood count, however, told a different story. It was sky high.

Of course, the adoption procedure was cancelled and Robert began his chemotherapy treatment at the Christie Hospital in Manchester. We thought we had time to find a bone marrow donor since we had caught the condition in its early stages. This was not to be as Robert's condition rapidly worsened to the fast moving Acute Myloid Leukaemia. We were in shock. Nothing seemed to be going our way.

The race was now on to find a bone marrow donor. Remarkably, after tests, Robert's only brother, Philip, proved to be a perfect match. Finally we had something going OUR way and after his bone marrow transplant, Robert was re-born on 28th June 2002.

I had been at Robert's side for all of his hospital treatment and never once did I see Robert feeling depressed or downhearted. His positive attitude and bravery were second to none and he was and will remain my hero. Robert has remained in full remission to this day.

Obviously, our baby plans had been completely put on hold and we both were almost resigned to the fact that we would never have children. However, eventually, when Robert felt well enough, we decided to give IVF one final try, this time privately in Manchester. Previous attempts at the treatment meant that we had three embryos in frozen storage and it was decided to thaw them out and have them on standby at the time of implantation.

This proved to be the best decision we ever made. Even though we had embryos for implantation from the new cycle of IVF, when the time came for the procedure to take place, one by one, the embryos fragmented and were not viable for implantation. Luckily, the frozen embryos survived the thawing process and were successfully implanted. Two weeks later, both Robert and I were completely stunned to find that I was pregnant. We couldn't believe our eyes when we saw the blue line appear. It was real. Finally, it had happened!

After a fantastic pregnancy and to our everlasting joy, on 20th April 2004 we were blessed with a baby girl, our daughter Florence. She brought and continues to bring such joy to our lives that it's difficult to describe.

She's everything we could have hoped for and much more. Our little miracle!

I decided I didn't want to work full time and miss out on so much of Florence's growing up. I had previously resigned from my teaching post with a view to beginning a four year Interior Design degree course at Preston University. Having Florence put these plans on hold and led me in another direction.So many people had bought such beautiful things for Florence when she was born - each one treasured, many of them kept as heirlooms and all holding such special memories. I decided it would be nice to be the person who provided these gifts that held such special memories. I liked the idea of owning a shop selling beautiful and unique gifts for babies and children.

Precious Little Treasures therefore came to be. At the moment, I have an internet and house party business that perfectly fits round spending time with my daughter. I love this new turn in my life and the new challenges I face and still have the time to enjoy being with Florence. In the future I would like to expand into a shop/shops and become well known for selling that special something for precious little treasures.

Visit Ruth's online gift shop for babies and toddlers at www.preciouslittletreasures.co.uk.

Back to Inspirational Mums