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Mike Peters film reveals battle with IVF as well as cancer
A warts-and-all documentary reveals for the first time how rock star Mike Peters and his wife Jules braved IVF treatment at the same time as his cancer ordeal.
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The film Mike Peters: The Road To Recovery follows The Alarm frontman Peters' fight with cancer - through chemotherapy and a punishing schedule of international concerts, to the news that he is currently in remission.
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But it also lifts the lid on the couple's struggle to conceive children and their previously very private journey through IVF.
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The pair - who have been married for 18 years - talk openly for the first time about how their son Dylan, now aged two, had been conceived on the fourth attempt at IVF after two years of physically and emotionally draining treatment.
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Earlier this year, while Mike was in the middle of chemotherapy treatment, they decided to try for another child using frozen embryos.
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Thanks to treatment at Midland Fertility Services in Aldridge, the Peters are now expecting baby number two in January.
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"We kept our IVF treatment to ourselves with the birth of our son, to protect ourselves and to protect our family and friends," says Mike.
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"We didn't want people worrying about whether we'd get upset about being invited to children's birthday parties and things like that.
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"And if people know you're trying for children and having trouble, it adds an enormous amount of pressure when you're under a lot of pressure already.
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"We had plenty of upsets along the way with the IVF battle. For a woman, especially, to be denied childbirth for any reason, it's similar to having to deal with cancer anyway - it's a giant grieving process."
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In the film, Jules explains how devastated she was to be told she was infertile.
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"I think people are uncomfortable talking about IVF and infertility and I understand why," she says.
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"You don't necessarily want people's pity if it doesn't work out and you're potentially dealing with the fact that you may never have children.
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"Dealing with my infertility was similar to dealing with Mike's cancer - you just want to hear that everything will be alright, but nobody can tell you that. There are no guarantees.
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"When we found out I was infertile I definitely felt like life wasn't worth living - not that I would have done anything rash - but if children are what you want, to be told that you may not have them. I don't think anybody who hasn't experienced that can really understand it.
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"For Mike and I, we'd always planned on having children. That day when we found out we would never have them naturally was such a black day, such a black week."
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When they decided to try for another baby, the future looked uncertain for Mike, but Jules recalls it felt like the right time.
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"I felt ready, but we were a long way off remission and he still might have not made it through," she says.
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"So there would have been me, without Mike, and with two children. Looking back, it probably seemed a strange thing to do but I'm a big believer in trusting your gut instinct."
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Her faith paid off straight away, with the first attempt at implanting a frozen embryo turning into a successful pregnancy.
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"As soon as they'd placed the embryos inside me I had a sense of inner calm, and I knew I was pregnant," she says.
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"We knew then in our hearts that everything was going to be okay."
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Mike Peters: The Road To Recovery, Sunday 1 October, 91Èȱ¬ TWO Wales/2W at 9.00pm.
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Viewers outside Wales can watch via digital satellite channel 991.
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KS2
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