A BRAVE cancer survivor, who has defied the odds at every turn, has announced to the world that she is pregnant with her third "miracle baby".

Having survived cancer and suffered three miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy, Darlington woman Kerry Heaney thought she would never have the big family she hoped for.

On Monday, Mrs Heaney and husband Tommy, have chosen to reveal via The Northern Echo the impending arrival of their third son.

Each Heaney child brings with him a story of his own, having been brought into the world against the odds.

Their oldest boy, five-year-old Dexter, was born following three heart-breaking miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy that led to Mrs Heaney having a fallopian tube removed and being told that she would be unable to conceive naturally.

Four-year-old Logan was in utero when his devastated mother discovered she had breast cancer and had to deliver her baby prematurely.

After undergoing gruelling cancer treatment, she was again told that would no longer be able to have children.

Having battled the cancer into remission, Mrs Heaney had resigned herself to being infertile, considering herself lucky to have her two longed-for sons.

When her periods stopped late in 2016, the 36-year-old artist assumed she was experiencing an early menopause – until her husband secretly slipped a pregnancy test into their shopping.

Mr Heaney said: “I did it to rule pregnancy out more than anything – I knew something was going on, but never thought it was that, we’d been told so many times it was impossible.

“It came as a bit of a shock and it didn’t really start to sink in until our 16-week scan but we’re really happy.”

“I hadn’t read the instructions, so I didn’t realise what it meant when two lines appeared immediately,” says his delighted wife.

“We rushed straight out to Boots and bought a more expensive test just to be sure and that came back positive, we just couldn’t believe it.

“The boys are absolutely over the moon and so are we – I never thought I’d be able to have any of them and I think of all three of them as my miracle babies.”

With the new member of the family expected in August, the Heaneys hope to spread a message of hope with their good news.

Mrs Heaney said: “My doctor told me that if she tells me I can’t do something, she knows I’ll find some way of doing it.

“I’m quite apprehensive because of being diagnosed with cancer the last time I was pregnant but I am happy, the chances of it coming back are slim and so far, it is a healthy and normal pregnancy.

“I hope that our story brings some joy to anyone going through anything similar to what I did.

“It’s a story of hope and I want people to see that there can be hope after cancer, there can sometimes be good news.”