Sometimes you see news that just makes your heart swell for someone you don't even know. Here are two stories about women left infertile by cancer treatment who are now proud mums.
Three sisters and a little baby
In a story to be featured this week in a BBC documentary, a woman is given the gift of motherhood by her two sisters. Alex Patrick says that being rendered infertile by chemotherapy for cervical cancer was more upsetting than the cancer itself. When her sisters learned about her anguish, they stepped in to help. Twin sister Charlotte donated an egg, which was fertilized by Alex's husband's sperm. Sister Helen was the surrogate mother, or "just a tummy mummy" as she put it. One IVF attempt resulted in the healthy birth of son Charlie.
A real one shot wonder
To be successful, IVF treatment usually requires repeated cycles where several embryos are implanted each cycle. Alison Jones and husband Craig had only one embryo to make their attempt at parenthood. Before undergoing chemotherapy to treat her leukaimia, Alison had an egg retrieval so that the couple's embryos could be preserved; but only one egg could be retrieved. Against all odds, the single egg was successfully fertilized, frozen and then thawed when Alison was healthy again. Doctors prepared the couple for disappointment, but amazingly, the single IVF attempt resulted in pregnancy. 7 months later, little Elin was delivered prematurely by emergency C-section when Alison developed pre-eclampsia, but is now home with parents and doing fine. I can only say, there is some very special purpose in store for little Elin.
I held on to my dream of beating the cancer and one day becoming a mum. I kept thinking about that tiny frozen embryo in a deep freeze at the IVF clinic. It helped to get me through.
Alison Jones
About Maureen
Click to play the Fountains of Wayne song about Maureen!
"Maureen, you're givin' me too much information!"
My Kiddies
My DH
(And never had a fight!)
About Me
In 1999, my two sons were 4 and 2 years old, and we were ready to have another baby. I hoped to have a daughter, and I turned to the Internet to search for ways of increasing the odds of conceiving a girl. I discovered the iVillage Gender Determination Board. On the board, I found information about at-home and high-tech sex selection methods, but more importantly, I discovered I wasn't alone. I was one among a legion of mothers who longed desperately for a daughter, keeping it a secret so others wouldn't think, wrongly, that we loved our sons less, and feeling guilty becuse we're not supposed to care if a baby's a boy or a girl, "as long as it's healthy". There were, of course, also mothers hoping just as much to add a son to their all-girl family.
After a lot of research and soul-searching, my husband I decided to try MicroSort. In the fall of 2000, I became pregnant on our first MicroSort attempt, by IUI. At 20 weeks of pregnancy, we discovered we were having twins, a boy and a girl! We were thrilled to have a daughter at last, and a new son to cherish too.
During my journey to conceive a daughter, I was so grateful for the support and information volunteered by others on the boards; mothers who didn't even know me, but were willing to help me, hope for me, and cry along with me, when there was no one I could turn to "in real life". I know that without being able to talk personally with women who had tried MicroSort, I would have never gone through with this daunting, complex procedure; and that we would have never had a daughter as part of our family.
Now that my journey's finished, this Web site is just my way of giving some of that help back, to you.