Little big miracles

Katrina Kirk was just 26 when a cancer diagnosis shattered her most cherished dreams. But a pioneering Australian medical treatment gave her a chance at motherhood, making this a very special Christmas for Katrina, husband Steve and their longed-for daughter, Layla.

- GENEVIEVE GANNON

Katrina’s dreams were always big, but uncomplicated. Or so she thought. She wanted a baby, and a home with a yard and room for a swing set. Having grown up in the Yarra Valley, a green swathe of Victoria known for its vineyards, her vision of an idyllic childhood meant space and fresh air. She was 23 when she met a kindred spirit in then-27-year-old Steve Kirk and began to feel that her ambitions were within her grasp.

“He was a little nerdy, but cute,” Katrina recalls warmly. “We never got off the phone.”

One of their first dates played out like something Nora Ephron might cook up to show that the heroes of a romantic comedy belong together: Steve had wanted to take Katrina to a yoghurt shop he thought she’d like, but they arrived to discover it was closed. Instead, they sat in the dark car park until they realised they’d talked the night away.

“We just chatted all night,” says Katrina. “It felt like we’d always known each other.”

Katrina had worn her heart on her sleeve from the start: She wanted a relationship, not a fling, and she wanted children. At the beginning of 2015, Steve made a big decision. He booked a room at Melbourne’s five-star Crown Metropol and enlisted the help of the staff to plan a proposal. When Katrina opened the door to their room, she saw a trail of rose petals leading to the bed where the diamond ring was sitting.

“My ears just closed over. I can’t remember what he said, but I said, ‘Oh! Of course!’” she remembers.