When Allison Ardolino Dinkelacker was 30 weeks pregnant with her first child in 2009, she found out that she had stage 3 breast cancer. Her son, Dylan, was born via an emergency c-section shortly thereafter so that she could begin treatment.
After beating cancer, she dreamed of having another baby. Her doctor told her that because her cancer had been brought on by hormones, getting pregnant again would be too risky. If she became pregnant again, she might not survive the pregnancy and would no longer be able to have children. Her identical twin sister, Dawn Ardolino Policastro, was at the appointment with Allison and immediately offered to give her sister a priceless gift: she would carry her sister’s baby.
They documented the pregnancy with a professional photographer. When the photographs of the two were posted on social media, the story went viral. Over 69,000 people liked the photographs, and 12,000 people shared the story of the sisters.
Dawn kept the gender of the baby a secret from her sister. On Aug. 5 she gave birth to a healthy baby boy, named Hudson William.
After the birth, Allison thanked her sister for her unselfish gift in a heartfelt post on Facebook. She expressed her gratitude for what Dawn did for their her that allowed them to be a family of four and gave her oldest son the chance to be a big brother. The priceless gift that Dawn gave her sister helped an entire family’s dream to come true.