MIRACLE BABY JOY FOR DOUBLE ORGAN TRANSPLANT MUM

Melbourne mum Kate Hansen has beaten extraordinary odds — not once, but multiple times — and now calls her two-year-old son Harley her “pride and joy.”

Kate, 38, is a double organ transplant recipient who battled serious illness for years before giving birth to her son, who was born 13 weeks early and spent five months in hospital.

“It was seven and a half years until I received the call,” Kate said of her life-saving kidney and pancreas transplant in 2019, gifted by a family who had agreed to donate their loved one’s organs. “It was the gift of life.”

Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at just four years old, Kate was on dialysis three times a week before her transplant. Despite her declining health, she remained determined to live fully, continuing her career and holding onto the dream of becoming a mother.

“I don’t take ‘no’ for an answer, and I have had to work hard to get where I am,” she said.

A former property manager at Ray White Lara, Kate completed a Diploma of Real Estate. She became a licensed agent — all while her baby Harley fought for survival in the hospital.

“I studied for my diploma with one eye, as my eye turned from the stroke,” she said. “The neonatal nurses called me ‘pirate mum’.”

Kate’s pregnancy was already high-risk when tragedy struck.

“I was pregnant with twins and Blake didn’t survive,” she said. “We lost Blake in the second trimester, around 20 weeks' gestation, and I was admitted to the hospital for the last eight weeks of my pregnancy.”

Baby Harley was born weighing just 800 grams and measuring only 23cm long.

“He would literally sit in my bra,” Kate said. “Now he’s 12kg, he’s doing so well. He eats more than I do,” she laughed.

Harley was born with a congenital heart defect and underwent heart surgery at three months old, when he weighed just 2kg.

Kate’s battle didn’t end there. After Harley’s long hospital stay, she suffered a stroke and was later diagnosed with breast cancer, requiring further surgery. Yet she never lost her resolve.

“Doctors told me I would never walk or talk or be able to work in my industry, but with the support of my team, I have been able to achieve my goals.”

Kate now works in property management and business development at Ray White Altona, which allows her to stay closer to home and spend more time with her son and husband.

With her health stabilised and her family thriving, Kate’s story is a testament to grit, love, and what she calls simply “not giving up.”