CityView Magazine

12 | May 2020 birthday, and ended successfully on Sunday, May 9, 2004. Mother's Day. Celia went on to fully recover from her liver transplant and returned to college as planned in the fall. Shortly into her sophomore year, she went on a blind date to a fraternity cocktail party. As Celia tells it, aer her date fatefully abandoned her at the party in favor of bar-hopping on Franklin Street, a handsome senior saw an opportunity and asked Celia to dance. In Celia's own words, "the rest was history." Scott Everett and Celia dated through the rest of her undergraduate career, and their relationship progressed in spite of several years of long-distance courtship as Celia remained in Chapel Hill to attend UNC's pharmacy program, and Scott relocated to West Virginia for medical school. In the fall of 2010, their future together looked bright. ey'd been engaged for over a year. Celia was in her last year of pharmacy school, planning for her new career and looking forward to reuniting with her fiancé, when once again, in an all-too-familiar fashion, life threw her a curve ball. Aer noticing a lump in her breast, Celia immediately scheduled an appointment with her OB/GYN. Further testing revealed a diagnosis that the medical-savvy couple knew was always a possibility but had hoped to avoid forever: post-transplant lymphoma. Celia's cancer needed to be treated immediately with inpatient chemotherapy. e couple, on the cusp of beginning the next phase of their life together, was certain that they wanted to be parents one day and knew that Celia's treatment would significantly decrease her ability to conceive. ey made the hopeful decision to harvest Celia's eggs and attempt invitro fertilization. Yet again, devastating news from her doctors: the egg retrieval and IVF had been unsuccessful. Celia and Scott faced these obstacles as a united front and went on to marry in 2011. ey focused their energy on settling into their new home in Ohio, where Scott was completing his residency. Aer several years of emotional and physical recovery for Celia, the Everetts were living a busy, happily married life, and despite Celia's complex medical history, held onto faith that conceiving a baby might not be entirely out of the question. ey scheduled an appointment with a reproductive endocrinologist, who confidently put Celia's chance of conceiving and carrying a successful pregnancy at less than 1 percent. Celia's journey to motherhood was not easy. It was marked by uncertainty, loss and grief. But for her, there was always faith. And her journey led her to Brady and Quinn, two precious little children who just might want a nibble of their mama's Mother's Day breakfast this year. On Mother's Day and every day, may we remember those who came before us, celebrate those among us and offer hope to those who just might one day be.

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