Miracle baby Charlie gives back to Chris O’Brien Lifehouse
After losing his wife to a rare form of cancer, the birth of their baby boy eight weeks later was the lifeline Michael Callaway needed.
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After losing his wife to a rare form of cancer, the birth of their baby boy eight weeks later was the lifeline Michael Callaway needed.
Mr Callaway’s wife Olivette was diagnosed with thymoma, a type of lung cancer, in 2007.
Her tumour was the size of a grapefruit and she was soon admitted to Camperdown’s Chris O’Brien Lifehouse Hospital, where she was treated by chief clinical officer Michael Boyer.
Just eight weeks after her death, their miracle baby, Charlie was born to a surrogate mother.
“When you lose someone you love, and to then have another life being born eight weeks later, I couldn’t imagine what other state I’d be in,” Mr Callaway said.
“Having Charlie come, it has been a whole new purpose for me.”
After her diagnosis in 2007, Mrs Callaway was sent in for open heart zipper surgery, to remove the massive tumour.
The operation was a success and she went on to lead a healthy and happy life for the next four to five years with regular check-ups.
In 2011, she was struck down again, when doctors found further growth in her lungs.
The couple, who moved from Camperdown to live in Sutherland, spent the next several years at the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse Hospital receiving chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Her doctor, Professor Michael Boyer, warned Olivette she may lose her fertility — but she was determined to start a family, and have a baby herself.
“Michael (Boyer) couldn’t as a responsible doctor condone Oli having the baby,” Mr Callaway said.
A close friend, Dominique Aust, offered to be the family’s surrogate.
“She was in tears, but there was Dom, who had come around that weekend, she had the plan B, and Olivette finally caved,” Mr Callaway said.
“We started planning, it went straight into gear from there.”
Six months into the pregnancy, Olivette’s health took a turn for the worse.
“They looked at absolutely everything for us,” he said.
“The final year she was in a trial at the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, which was showing promising results, but her body had taken too much over the years.
“I knew going into the surrogacy that as much as we hoped Oli would get better at some point I would have to look after Charlie.
“She was desperately trying to get well before Charlie was born.”
Mr Callaway said his wife was defiant in the face of death.
“She was always very head strong,” he said.
“She was so determined not to think about death and to keep fighting.
“That’s her legacy — she would catch up with friends and they would think everything is fine.
“Whenever there was an event she would put on a brave face, she was very tenacious.”
Mrs Callaway died in the Chris O’Brien intensive care unit on August 20, 2018, just eight weeks before Charlie was born.
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“I brought her McDonalds because she wanted hot cakes,” he said.
“I left and thought I would be picking her up later on.”
But her kidneys started to fail and he got the call to come back.
“She passed that morning, her family unfortunately didn’t make it back in time.”
Mr Callaway, who works for Endeavour drinks group, a division of Woolworths Group, said Olivette’s passing sent shockwaves through the organisation.
“The division I work in came up with an idea of creating a wine brand called Dear Charlie,” he said.
“We decided that it would all be for Charlie but I said we had so much money coming through we wanted to give back to the hospital.
Around 12,000 bottles were sold and they raised $24,000 in total, with half being donated to the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse Hospital.
“It will be really nice for when Charlie is older, he will have some memories of giving back to the hospital,” Mr Callaway said.
He said he already sees much of Olivette in Charlie and he is looking forward to sharing stories of her once he is older.
“We will tell him how much his mum loved him and how much she will be looking down on him.”
Dominique Aust said she knew at some point Olivette wouldn't be around, and she wanted to give him a child to help him get out of bed everyday, “to make him smile.”
“She had always talked about having children, that’s how we bonded, wanting kids,” she said.
18- months after her last child, Steph was born, she went around to Olivette’s home and offered to be their surrogate.
“She was over the moon, she couldn’t believe it, she didn’t realise we were serious,” she said.
“When it’s time, I will tell Charlie everything about his mum.
“That there was no filter, that what you see is what you got, she had so much strength.”
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