At 24, Nic Jovanovic made a life-changing decision. It finally paid off the first time he held daughter Sofija in his arms

Holding his daughter Sofija for the first time, Nic Jovanovic was transported back in time to a doctor’s office he sat in when he was just 24.

He’d just been diagnosed with testicular cancer and his oncologist was urging him to freeze sperm before starting treatment, just in case the combination of chemotherapy and surgery destroyed his fertility forever.

At the time, Nic wanted to brush it off.

“You get told that you’ve got cancer, [and] now you’ve got to think about whether you can have children in the future,” he told nine.com.au.

“I was like, ‘I don’t need to worry about this yet, I’ve got no plans for children.’”

Family planning and fertility were the last thing on his mind as he scheduled chemo appointments and hospital admissions, but the oncologist insisted.

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Now 36, Nic will be forever grateful to his 24-year-old self for listening.

If he hadn’t, he might have never become a father to biological children, and he and wife Alex Jovanovic might have never welcomed Sofja into their family.

Alex already had two daughters, aged eight and six, from a previous relationship when she and Nic fell in love.

Nic embraced his role as stepdad long before he wed Alex in July 2025 and made the title official, but he also dreamed of giving the girls another little brother or sister – one with his eyes and Alex’s smile.

The idea of having a child with Alex made the hardship he faced in his 20s worth it.

Freezing sperm before undergoing cancer treatment was an isolating experience for Nic; blokes his age didn’t understand, and there were no male fertility influencers in the 2010s he could look to for advice or an idea of what to expect.

He had no way of knowing how much it would cost him financially either, especially not in the long term.

“There were no subsidies, and it’s about $50 a month to store [frozen sperm], so that’s $600 every year I’ve been storing it,” Nic said.

“Some people possibly can’t afford that, and that’s a sad reality if they’re already going through cancer treatment and then they’ve got another cost on top that’s not subsidised.”

He’s spent more than $7000 on storage since his diagnosis and is still paying today, just in case he and Alex want to try for another child.

The cost felt justified when he was diagnosed with cancer again in 2019.

Nic had to undergo chemotherapy again, as well as surgery to remove a teste, which would have made his chances of conceiving naturally even less likely.

He was glad to have that reserve of frozen sperm, no matter the cost.

But the cost didn’t end there.

Nic and Alex started putting money away to start a family long before they started in vitro fertilisation (IVF), which can cost up to $17,000 per cycle in Australia.

There was a physical and emotional cost to consider as well, at least for Alex.

“The idea of having another baby wasn’t daunting, and making that decision with Nic was really easy. It was just the IVF that was unknown,” she told nine.com.au.

“I really wanted to make sure it worked for Nic because I felt like he probably had a lot more riding on it for him, and we had limited shots at it.”

With a finite amount of frozen sperm available, they started trying for a baby.

Many couples go through multiple IVF cycles before falling pregnant, and some never do, so Nic and Alex knew there were no guarantees they’d succeed.

They never dreamed the first round of IVF would work.

Alex got a call from the clinic last year and surprised Nic with a positive pregnancy test in a gift box when he arrived home from work that day.

Naturally, he burst into tears; he couldn’t believe their luck.

“That first scan where we heard a heartbeat, my heart just exploded ... it still makes me so smitten and happy just thinking about it,” Nic said.

He was in tears again when baby Sofija arrived in May this year, and welled up recounting that precious moment to nine.com.au.

“I just remember holding Alex’s hand, and crying. I was bawling my eyes out,” he said.

“It was such an incredible feeling. I look at Alex, and I don’t want to get emotional talking about it, but I’m just so, so blessed.”

This will be Nic’s first Father’s Day with Sofija and he plans to make it extra special by shaving and dyeing his hair the very next day for the Australian Cancer Research Foundation’s Brave Shave 2026.

He’ll be taking part in honour of the man he was at 24, and in solidarity with every other Aussie facing cancer right now.

Nic survived cancer and was lucky enough to go on to have a family, but not everyone gets that happy ending.

He wants his story to serve as a warning for other young men to take their health seriously and think about how their choices today may affect their fertility years down the line, even if that doesn’t seem like a big concern in the present moment.

Because while Aussie women have become more educated and vocal about fertility, men are lagging behind. Nic wants to change that.

“That’s why I’ve tried to use my platform as best I can to raise awareness for cancer and young blokes that are affected,” he said.

He wants Aussie blokes to leave the old “she’ll be right” mentality behind and accept that they’re not invincible.

Because if he hadn’t accepted that at 24, he might not have listened to his oncologist, and he might not be a father today.

Registrations are now open for the ACRF Brave Shave 2026. Learn more here.