FINALLY, Joanne Benson received the news she'd been longing to hear. She was pregnant after only her second course of IVF treatment. Yet just a week later her world was turned upside down when doctors told her she had cancer and advised her to have a termination.

But that wasn't an option for Joanne and her partner, Paul Weems. Although devastated, the couple refused to consider losing their baby and so began a long and painful battle.

Next month, their 'little miracle' Elinor, will be a year old. As she blows out the candle on her birthday cake, Ellie will be blissfully unaware of Joanne's struggle to bring her into the world. It is 18 months since Joanne was diagnosed, but it is only now that she is beginning to believe she is winning the battle.

The story began when Joanne, now 32, was just 18. She was studying for a sports science diploma when she discovered a lump under her arm. It was later diagnosed as Hodgkin's Lymphoma, cancer of the lymphatic system. Joanne underwent a 12-week course of radiotherapy, which was successful in treating the cancer, and she was soon able to get on with life.

She enrolled at Sunderland University to study criminology and sociology and, apart from regular check ups, her life was back to normal. She was awarded a degree and began work with the youth offenders' team in Darlington.

Joanne met Paul, a social worker, during her third year at university and has been with him now for nine years.

"After about seven years together I began to get broody and wanted to have a child with Paul," she says. "We were unable to have children, so we decided to look into IVF and went to Leeds for the treatment.

"After only the second course of treatment, in March 2005, I became pregnant. I was really lucky," says Joanne, who lives in Wensley, in the Yorkshire Dales.

Joanne went for her annual routine haemoglobin check at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton, where it was discovered that her red cell count was very low - 6.8 as against an average of 11. Joanne and Paul were due to go on holiday to Gran Canaria and were told by the consultant to go and enjoy themselves and that on their return he would do further tests. At that stage it was not certain the cancer had returned.

By the time she returned from holiday, Joanne was in a lot of pain but assumed it was connected with the pregnancy. She was given an ultrasound scan. "I was so excited. It was the first time I had seen the baby," she says. "The next day, hospital staff called me at work at 9am. I was asked to go in to see the consultant. He said, 'I think your Hodgkin's has come back'. I was absolutely devastated."

The next day the news was confirmed and she was advised to have a termination. "The doctor said the pregnancy was under serious threat," says Joanne. "It was 12 weeks into the pregnancy and we had decided that was the day we were going to tell everyone about the baby. It was the worst day of my life. It was unbearable."

Joanne's cancer had returned in her spleen and abdomen and, possibly, her chest. Paul decided to find out as much as he could about Hodgkin's Lymphoma and pregnancy. A search on the internet showed that it was possible after the first three months to treat a pregnant woman with chemotherapy.

By this time, Joanne was being seen at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough and she and Paul told the consultant about the findings and that they wanted to carry on with the pregnancy and be treated. "The hospital had never treated someone who was pregnant and had Hodgkin's Lymphoma, but they agreed to our wishes," says Paul.

Joanne, who was then 17 weeks pregnant, began chemotherapy straight away and during the first week was very unwell. Her stomach swelled and she was admitted to hospital. At first it was feared she had lost the baby, but a scan showed she was still alive.

However, it also showed that Ellie had a dilated kidney and, following another scan, it was also thought she had a hole in the heart, which later proved to be incorrect.

"After that there were frequent scans and gradually the dilated kidney got smaller and smaller until it eventually returned to normal, probably because of the chemo," says Joanne. "At 22 weeks I was getting really excited and after my treatment Paul and I went to Teesside Park to shop for baby clothes."

At 26 weeks there was a further blow when it was discovered the baby had stopped growing. "I was mortified and just could not stop crying," says Joanne. "Apparently, small babies are born to people who have chemotherapy.

"It had been decided that they would deliver the baby at 28 weeks, but then they wanted me to try and get to 30 weeks. I got to 30 weeks but then they wanted me to try for 34 weeks. It was then that I decided to stop the chemotherapy until after the birth and in those two weeks Ellie grew more than she had during the previous six."

But Joanne's problems weren't over. The next fear was that the placenta was deteriorating and there was concern that if it stopped functioning, the baby would die in the womb.

"It was horrendous," she says. "It was just one thing after another. But I got to 34 weeks and was taken into hospital on the Monday for the delivery. But there was a delay because there were no cots available in the special baby unit."

But then the following day, at 12.18pm on Tuesday, November 22, Ellie was born by caesarean section, weighing in at 3lbs 13oz. "On the day of Ellie's birth I had no fear at all. Up until then I worried all the time whether she was going to be OK. But it was great," says Joanne.

On the Friday, Joanne resumed chemotherapy.

"From day one I was an emotional wreck. Elinor was in the special baby care unit and had to be tube fed. I was forever checking on her and at night I used to ask one of the nurses to go and make sure she was OK."

Elinor spent eight days in the unit and a week at the Friarage before being allowed home. By that time she weighed just under 5lbs.

After the birth, Joanne still had to endure two months of chemo followed by a visit to Guildford for a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan, which would show if there was still any active disease. There was, and more chemo followed, supplemented by steroids and a stem cell transplant at Newcastle RVI.

Doctors are confident the treatment has worked, but a further PET scan will determine whether there is a need for more. Whatever the outcome, Joanne will never be entirely free of hospitals and will have to succumb to regular check ups for the rest of her life.

"I've spent more time in hospital in the last year than I have at home," she says.

"Now, for the first time, I am beginning to look forward to things like Elinor's birthday, Christmas, going back to work in January, and next spring Paul and I are planning to get married.

" This time last year I wasn't even sure if I would see Christmas."

Now she knows she will, along with her partner and the precious daughter they feared they might never have.