In a desperate bid to have a baby Christine and Steve Shaw have spent £25,000 on fertility treatment over the last 20 years. Now their dream is about to come true, with Christine expecting not just one baby but twins. She tells Lynette Pinchess about their unrelenting quest

Gentling patting her bump, Christine Shaw says: "Look, it's getting bigger."

She's as proud as punch that after 20 years of longing for a baby, she's finally expecting twins.

Fifteen weeks pregnant Christine, 42, from Bilborough, is due on July 13.

The remarkable story of her quest for motherhood has been followed by the Evening Post since 2006, when we revealed how her attempts had been thwarted by one setback after another.

Despite endometriosis, failed fertility treatments, an unsuccessful surrogacy attempt and battling cancer, Christine and her husband Steve, 46, were determined not to give up.

It has been a long, expensive haul. The couple have taken out loans and sacrificed foreign holidays and luxuries to pay for IVF treatment totalling £25,000.

But finally, thanks to a stranger's donor eggs, Christine is pregnant.

She said: "It's a dream come true. I still can't believe it even now. When I saw the plus on the pregnant test...oh my God...to have a positive test was heaven."

Christine, of Bilborough, comes from a big brood – she has six brothers and sisters – and longed to start a family of her own a few years after meeting Steve, when she was 22.

When she failed to conceive they were eventually referred for tests and Christine was diagnosed with endometriosis, a painful condition of the womb which can affect fertility.

When she turned 29, the couple were advised to try IVF treatment.

The first attempt at Nurture, the NHS clinic at the Queen's Medical Centre, in 1999 was free. It was the start of a series of failed and abandoned cycles. Between 2001 and 2007 they spent £18,000 at Care Fertility's private clinic in Nottingham on attempts using Christine's eggs.

"It was awful, unthinkable, you feel such a failure. I wanted a baby so badly," said Christine.

There came a further blow when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of cancer, after finding a lump in her neck in 2005.

Three months of chemotherapy and five weeks of radiotherapy followed. Christine was told the treatment could lead to an early menopause – and she was warned to hold off trying for a baby for three years in case the cancer returned.

It was at that point Christine's sister Teresa Pycroft, of Wollaton, offered to be a surrogate mother to carry the couple's child.

Teresa, a mother-of-three, had her sister's eggs – frozen from her second IVF attempt – implanted in 2007.

But a pregnancy test came back negative. Everyone was devastated but Christine refused to give up.

A friend of Teresa's agreed to donate her eggs to the "pot" for childless couples on Care Fertility's waiting list.

In return, Christine went to the top of the waiting list to receive the eggs from another woman whose physical characteristics match her and Steve's.

The donor eggs were fertilised by Steve's sperm and implanted into Christine on October 27.

"We considered it very carefully," said Dr George Ndukwe, the clinic's medical director. "I knew that the cancer treatment would have affected ovarian reserves and the most realistic way to go at that point was for the egg donation."

The procedure cost £7,000, bringing the couple's total IVF bill to £25,000.

Unable to wait for the official pregnancy test at Care on November 11, Christine did a home test three days before which came up positive.

When Care's test results showed the same, Christine said: "Everyone was ecstatic. They were all crying."

"There's no feeling that can compare with that because I've known her for all these years – we've been through this journey together," Dr Ndukwe said.

Husband Steve, a construction worker, said: "It's brilliant, top of the world. I would like one of each but at the end of the day I just want two healthy babies. I just hope I have enough energy...I've saved a bit."

Christine's only regret is that her beloved mum Cassandra Rawson died last year without the chance to share her joy.

"She would have been so happy. We were so close, I just wish my mum was here to see this," she said.

If one of the babies is a girl, she will be named Cassie Teresa Shaw in honour of Christine's mum and sister.

She had special praise for the staff at Care Fertility, adding: "It is such a friendly clinic. You're an individual, not just a patient. They are fantastic."

Dr Ndukwe said: "It's a very rare occurrence for someone to be trying for such a long time and to also be going through the sorts of things she was going through.

"The drugs you use for cancer treatment can sometimes affect everything. But here she is with twins."

Wanda Georgiades, PR manager at Care, met Christine when she worked at the Queen's Medical Centre 20 years ago. The two grew close, with Wanda even attending Christine's wedding.

Wanda says: "Christine has been a part of our lives for so long, we've been willing this to happen. I haven't heard of any other women in the country who have been successful after such a long time of trying for a baby. Whenever you see Christine, she's always upbeat. There's some spirit inside her that keeps her going. All we want is to see her with two fat babies in a pram."

lynette.pinchess@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk