Sharon Nelson has seen her share of doctors.

As a seven-year breast cancer survivor who had a mastectomy, reconstructive surgery and a myomectomy, you could say she's familiar with those who don white coats.

So when the 43-year-old Harlem woman went into her gynecologist's office one February morning for what she thought was early menopause, she was in for a big surprise.

"I said go ahead and waste a perfectly good pregnancy test," laughs Nelson. "So [my doctor] does the test, and she comes back and she was so excited. She literally came skipping back in and she said, 'my God, Sharon, you're pregnant! Isn't that wonderful?' She was so excited. I became frozen. I didn't know what to think. I had been cancer free for six years at that point. It was crazy, because I could not fathom it."

This is the same gynecologist Sharon Nelson called when she noticed a pinkish discharge from her right breast and who scheduled her first mammogram, which revealed stage 1 breast cancer. The very same doctor who, several years before, oversaw Nelson's fibroid-removal surgery and who had been treating her for 25 years.

One in 19,000 African American women are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. Nelson not only beat the disease, but she also beat the odds by becoming pregnant .

And just how does a woman who underwent an intense chemo regimen, and whose "uterus looks like swiss cheese," have a baby while in her forties?

"That's an answer for the big man upstairs, because I have no answer and neither do my doctors," says Nelson. "It's quite an anomaly. Let's put it this way -- my plastic surgeon has been practicing close to 25 years now, and he's only seen a case like this once. And my oncologist, who has been practicing for 20 years, has never seen it before."

Nelson, who was a single career girl of 36 when she received news of her breast cancer diagnosis, got five opinions and opted for a mastectomy and round of chemo as a course of treatment. And though she stayed focused during her treatment, she said she couldn't help think about what all this meant for her love life.

"Think about it, I was a single person when I had my diagnosis. And the most disturbing thing for me was thinking 'Am I ever going to date again?' I kind of felt like I was going to become the Chevy with the one door with the different color. It's an odd way of putting it, but that's the way I felt."

To tell the truth, Nelson's dating life was not without its ups and downs. She remembers dating a stock broker for eight months, only to never hear from him again when she told him she had had cancer. But she also recalls telling the man who is now her husband of her diagnosis on their first date.

"I'm so intensely private, and it's hard, but I felt comfortable with this person from the first date," she recalls. "I told him I got a mastectomy, and it was such a weight off me to be able to release that."

Nelson dated this special guy, Anthony Beauzile, for about two years when one day during the holidays he proposed.

"He said out the blue, 'You know, I think we should get married next year.' So I said, 'that sounds really nice.' That was a January conversation. So February, I realized I hadn't seen my menstrual cycle, and I said here I am going through early menopause. So I made an appointment with my same famous GYN, where we saw an ultrasound with an 8-week-old fetus!"

"I was so happy to find a man that accepts me," Nelson beams. "And I knew that he wanted children, and I was trying to gently bring up this whole adoption idea, very gently of course (laughing), not making it a big deal."

On August 18, 2008, Sharon Nelson delivered a healthy baby boy, Nelson Anthony Beauzile, after what she calls a "great pregnancy" (though it was high-risk.) While at home on maternity leave, she was surfing the Web one day and saw a contest flashing on the screen for a Ty Pennington custom nursery sponsored by Abbott Nutrition's Similac brand.

The tagline was "tell us why you deserve to have the nursery of your dreams". Nelson submitted her beautiful story, and six months later, was notified that she was a finalist and then a winner. Adorable Nelson Beauzile (named after Admiral Nelson of the British Royal Fleet) got his nursery designed in a nautical theme as a nod to his namesake.

Mom baby, and proud papa, Anthony, are all thriving!

"I want people to know that breast cancer is not a death sentence," she says. "So you do not give up, you do not the pity-party thing, it's not constructive. But you do need to learn how to take the best care of yourself which means getting opinions, writing questions, making sure you're prepared for the interviews that you have for the doctors and always remember you're in control. Nobody can tell you what's best for you and your lifestyle."