Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I want to tell you why I love podcasting. Hi, my name's Tommy Dixon,

and I make podcasts for the BBC. I'm a big fan of stories, always loved a good book. But when I started

commuting for my first job, I discovered podcasts. I was blown away by how a creative idea and the right

mixture of sounds could take you into a whole new world full of incredible stories. You know, the type that make you go, wow. And that kind of inspired me to

give it a go myself, which to cut a long story short led to a BBC training scheme and a whole

new career giving other people that exact same feeling. So if you want to hear amazing stories

that make you go wow like I did, they're just a tap or click away on BBC

sounds. I do remember sitting on my back deck with my head in my knees, just going, what the

hell is happening? Like, why is my house full of all these people? Why has my phone been taken off

me?

Is this real?

Like, am I dreaming?

Like, you just want to bang your head and go wake up from this freaking nightmare

that's, what is this?

This cannot be real.

And my brother comes up to me

and he's like, hey, Elle.

Chloe and Laura and mom, they're talking about this sperm retrieval process.

And immediately I just looked to him and said, yeah, yes, yeah, yeah, go.

When a freak accident tore Elodie Pallin's world apart, the suggestion made to her in the midst of her grief and confusion would set her on a path she could never have predicted.

I'm Shahid Abari, and this is Lives Less Ordinary from the BBC World Service, bringing you a story about love, motherhood,

and how death and life can intertwine in the most extraordinary of ways.

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