Terry Simmonds, 44, and his wife Lisa, 45, had tried to have kids 13 years, but Lisa suffered a heartbreaking 24 miscarriages.
It wasn’t until they paid £2,600 for IVF treatment in the Czech Republic in April 2022 that they were finally able to conceive a son.
Even though the pregnancy was a smooth one, at 30 weeks, Lisa was sent to Birmingham Women’s Hospital due to complications with her kidney and liver.
Doctors decided to perform an emergency c-section the next day, and Lisa gave birth to their baby boy, Lewis.
But just as his wife was getting ready to have their baby, Terry got a crushing call from his mother, Denise.
She told him that his dad, Terry Sr, was dying.
So Terry hurried to Birmingham City Hospital to see his father and say goodbye at 7.45pm on March 9.
Just 12 hours later, his son, who’s now three months old, was born weighing 3lbs 3oz.
Terry, a foundry operator, from Wordsley, West Midlands, said: ‘My first Father’s Day without my dad and being a new father was bittersweet.
‘I lost my dad and became a father in 24 hours.
‘My parents were so supportive of us having a child. I can’t believe my dad will never meet him.
‘But after trying for so long, I’m happy I could start a family.
‘Lewis will continue the family legacy, I know my dad would be so proud.’
Lisa, former manager at Asda, said: ‘After trying for so long, we’re so grateful to get a chance to be parents.
‘We just want to give our baby boy the best life possible.
‘We’re devastated that they didn’t meet, but I hope he’s looking down on us.
‘He’s growing big and strong just like his old man.’
Lisa and Terry first met online in 2008, and became a couple two years later.
‘I told Terry I’d previously had eight miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy, but he was really supportive,’ she said.
Within just five years, Lisa tragically suffered a staggering 12 more miscarriages.
Lisa said: ‘I kept asking what was wrong, but the doctors couldn’t give me an answer.
‘They said it was because of my weight.’
Determined to become parents, Lisa underwent a gastric bypass operation in July 2012 and lost 15 stone in four years, but the couple still wasn’t able to get anywhere with conceiving until they went aboard for fertility treatment in April 2022.
Around the same time, Terry Sr, who was suffering from untreatable pulmonary fibrosis in his lungs, took a turn for the worse.
Even so, doctors thought he would be able to live for another two years, but after he suffered a perforated ulcer in his stomach, he wasn’t well enough to have the operation he needed.
Terry said: ‘I was terrified about the op to have the baby removed.
‘Then I hear that my dad was dying. Everything was happening all at once.
‘All I felt was worry and fear.
‘I said my goodbyes, but he wasn’t doing well.’
Lisa said: ‘Being a parent is definitely hard.
‘But I wouldn’t change it for the world.
‘I think Father’s Day is going to be a celebration and a day of grieving.
‘It will be the first time they’ve not been together for Father’s Day.
‘We’ve kept his dad alive by keeping the Simmonds name.
Lewis Terry Simmonds is just as stubborn as his grandad.’
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