CHRIS Pye has turned sculptor in a desperate attempt to fund IVF treatment because his wife was unable to get pregnant after lifesaving chemotherapy.
Chris and Laura have recently had their fifth batch of IVF treatment and are now trying to raise funds for their sixth attempt - it costs £6,000 per treatment and only the first two were NHS-funded.
Laura, 31, was given only two months to live seven years ago after being diagnosed with aplastic anaemia, and has also battled cancer, but says the greatest pain she has ever felt is the pain of infertility.
"Infertility hurts so far beyond the baby. It's about my marriage, my friendships and my ability to picture a future."
She wrote those words on a website she has set up this week as the couple, of Barnsley Road, Cudworth, have started an appeal to raise money for their efforts to start a family.
And their fund-raising has an unusual twist. Chris has developed an unusual talent for creating menacing sculptures from old tyres and hopes to be able to sell them.
The couple found out only this week that their fifth attempt had failed. But despite the heartache of this latest setback, it has given them some hope at the same time, because Laura was 'actually pregnant' after the treatment.
"It's the first time in my life I've actually been pregnant in my life," she said.
"Something went wrong in the end, but I felt like my body worked. I can get pregnant.
"It's restored my faith that it can work."
Laura set the appeal website up on Wednesday, and already almost £400 has been raised.
"I've had donations from people I don't even know. It just makes you want to cry."
The couple's website can be found here https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/1sAS6
