The news could hardly have been more devastating for policeman John Powell. Diagnosed with testicular cancer at the age of 32, he was given only six months to live and told that aggressive chemotherapy would leave him infertile.
That was 21 years ago – and now he and his wife are celebrating the arrival of a daughter. Mr Powell had a sperm sample frozen before he began the treatment and, when he was finally given the all-clear after two decades, it was used to create baby Jasmine.
‘We couldn’t be happier – she is a wonder of medical science,’ said Mr Powell at home with wife Chenphen in Orpington, Kent. ‘I look at little Jasmine and think she is nothing less than miraculous. I honestly didn’t believe she was real until the moment she was born and I saw her face. Now I hold her and think she is part of me from 20 years ago, before I had chemotherapy.
‘It’s astonishing that something as beautiful and perfect as Jasmine could come out of a time that was so painful and difficult.’ For Mr and Mrs Powell, the birth of their daughter on February 20 is even more of a wonder because they had enough money to fund only one cycle of IVF.
They were also fighting against the clock because strict rules meant Mr Powell’s sperm would have had to be destroyed when he reached the age of 55. Medical staff at the Bridge Centre in London, where they underwent the treatment, believe it is a British record for 20-year-old sperm to be successful in its first cycle.
Trevor White, an engineer from Manchester, became a father in 2004 after his sperm had been frozen for 21 years. However baby Daniel was conceived after four separate rounds of IVF.
‘I never thought we would be lucky enough for it to work,’ said 53-year-old Mr Powell, a former superintendent with the Metropolitan force.
‘I didn’t allow myself to believe it had been a success until the moment Jasmine was born.’
Mr Powell already had a daughter, now 23, with his first wife when he was diagnosed with cancer in 1990. They split a few years later and after a period alone he visited Thailand, where friends introduced him to Chenphen.
They married in March 2008 but only after he warned her that they could probably not have a family.
Mrs Powell, 36, said: ‘John explained to me that his cancer meant we were probably not going to be able to have a baby. ‘Obviously I was upset but I loved John so much that all I could think about was our future life together, if that was without children then that was okay.
‘But we knew there was a chance of having a baby with the frozen sperm. I knew we only really had one chance of it working so I didn’t really believe it would.
‘It was so unexpected when we found out I was pregnant, John had a huge smile on his face and it was obvious how happy he was.’ Mr Powell, a keen runner who has coached athletes to world championship level, had the sperm sample frozen in April 1991 and it was exactly 20 years later when his wife found she was pregnant.
He is the first Briton to survive a pioneering treatment. Bone marrow was drained from four holes drilled into his pelvis at Guy’s Hospital in London before he was given extremely high doses of chemotherapy. Months later the bone marrow – which had been frozen – was transplanted back into his body and his long road to recovery began.
Mr Powell kept a diary throughout the whole traumatic period of his treatment. He said: ‘I was confronted with the prospect of having just six months to live or having a chance of survival if I took the new treatment. I was determined to fight. It was a terrible time and it has only been since we were expecting Jasmine that I have been able to look at the diary again.’
The couple plan to fly to Thailand in September to show their daughter off to Mrs Powell’s mother. ‘She was crying down the phone when I told her Jasmine had been born,’ said Mrs Powell. ‘It is her first grandchild. I don’t know how she is going to wait until September.’
Showing posts with label ivf cycles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ivf cycles. Show all posts
Monday, 5 March 2012
Monday, 19 September 2011
What if IVF treatment fails: three peoples stories
Eleni Kyriacou talks to three couples about how IVF and fertility treatment can turn lives upside down
Carole Waters, who has now adopted
Carole, 43, lives in Hampshire with her husband Andy, 43. They have had one IVF cycle and one frozen embryo transfer (FET). They have a daughter, Bea, five.
I was 29 when we first started trying to conceive and we waited five years before having IVF. I was against it for a long time – I didn't like the thought of all those drugs. I was determined to get pregnant naturally and all the tests had shown that we were both highly fertile, so there was no clinical reason why we shouldn't be able to conceive naturally.
Eventually we got sucked into it. I was told that I had the egg reserves of a woman in her 20s, so we were very hopeful. In our area there was no NHS funding, so we paid for it. A woman in the next town had three IVF cycles, all paid for. I hated injecting myself and the mood swings that came with it. I remember the moment I saw the blood and realised it had failed. I screamed and at that point I couldn't have got any lower. It took me six months to deal with it. I became paranoid and felt depressed. For those six months, Andy and I became very insular, almost attached at the hip. We felt only we could understand each other, so we hardly socialised. And, frankly, I was getting fed up of all the platitudes, people saying: "It'll happen, just relax."
IVF made me feel such a failure. Friends were having their third baby and we were still trying for our first. A year later, we had FET – using the frozen embryos left over from the IVF cycle. But that failed too. I had a gut feeling that I would never get pregnant, so we decided to stop. The doctors kept saying there was nothing wrong with us, so we couldn't see what IVF could do for us that we couldn't do ourselves. We had already spent £4,000 and continuing would have felt like throwing money away.
So we agreed that we wouldn't have children. It was heartbreaking, though deep down I don't think I really believed that. Eventually we started socialising again and we'd walk into parties, heads held high, and pretend everything was OK and that we were quite happy the way we were.
We had briefly talked about adoption but dismissed it, as we had read that you couldn't adopt a baby if you were over 35. We wanted a baby, not a toddler; it was a basic need in me and we wanted to be as much of an influence in the child's life as possible. About a year later, by chance, I bumped into a colleague in the car park at work. She was adopting two siblings. She told me that there weren't the age limits on adopters we had assumed. I had also heard that the process was harrowing, but she said, "It's nowhere near as bad as IVF." That resonated.
Andy and I agreed that, though we were happy now, we'd be full of regret when we were older. In 10 years, we might be holidaying in the Maldives but what would it mean without a family? And what about when we were older? We regularly socialise with our parents and my Mum and I are very close. We wanted that for us in the future. We decided to explore adoption and it took two years, from that first phone call to having Bea come to live with us. She was nine months old.
I had to give up on the idea of having my own genetic child and there was a certain amount of mourning involved. The notion left my head but it was still in my heart. I can pinpoint the day when the idea finally left me for good. It was the day we were approved for adoption. Before that, I was still thinking, maybe I will still get pregnant, as everyone says it will happen when you least expect it. Since then I haven't cared about getting pregnant and now I wouldn't want a birth child, because Bea might feel left out. I don't want that complication for her. If someone said I could go back 10 years and get pregnant, I categorically wouldn't do it.
I feel so proud of our daughter and what we've done. Anyone can have a baby, but not everyone can adopt. There's no doubt in our minds that we weren't meant to have a biological child, because she was already there waiting for us. It's one of the best things we ever did. I know women on their seventh and eight IVF cycles. It's heartbreaking. I wish they would consider adoption as another way to achieve a family, rather than as a second best.
For more information on adoption, visit www.baaf.org.uk
To read more go to http://bit.ly/pZssDB
Carole Waters, who has now adopted
Carole, 43, lives in Hampshire with her husband Andy, 43. They have had one IVF cycle and one frozen embryo transfer (FET). They have a daughter, Bea, five.
I was 29 when we first started trying to conceive and we waited five years before having IVF. I was against it for a long time – I didn't like the thought of all those drugs. I was determined to get pregnant naturally and all the tests had shown that we were both highly fertile, so there was no clinical reason why we shouldn't be able to conceive naturally.
Eventually we got sucked into it. I was told that I had the egg reserves of a woman in her 20s, so we were very hopeful. In our area there was no NHS funding, so we paid for it. A woman in the next town had three IVF cycles, all paid for. I hated injecting myself and the mood swings that came with it. I remember the moment I saw the blood and realised it had failed. I screamed and at that point I couldn't have got any lower. It took me six months to deal with it. I became paranoid and felt depressed. For those six months, Andy and I became very insular, almost attached at the hip. We felt only we could understand each other, so we hardly socialised. And, frankly, I was getting fed up of all the platitudes, people saying: "It'll happen, just relax."
IVF made me feel such a failure. Friends were having their third baby and we were still trying for our first. A year later, we had FET – using the frozen embryos left over from the IVF cycle. But that failed too. I had a gut feeling that I would never get pregnant, so we decided to stop. The doctors kept saying there was nothing wrong with us, so we couldn't see what IVF could do for us that we couldn't do ourselves. We had already spent £4,000 and continuing would have felt like throwing money away.
So we agreed that we wouldn't have children. It was heartbreaking, though deep down I don't think I really believed that. Eventually we started socialising again and we'd walk into parties, heads held high, and pretend everything was OK and that we were quite happy the way we were.
We had briefly talked about adoption but dismissed it, as we had read that you couldn't adopt a baby if you were over 35. We wanted a baby, not a toddler; it was a basic need in me and we wanted to be as much of an influence in the child's life as possible. About a year later, by chance, I bumped into a colleague in the car park at work. She was adopting two siblings. She told me that there weren't the age limits on adopters we had assumed. I had also heard that the process was harrowing, but she said, "It's nowhere near as bad as IVF." That resonated.
Andy and I agreed that, though we were happy now, we'd be full of regret when we were older. In 10 years, we might be holidaying in the Maldives but what would it mean without a family? And what about when we were older? We regularly socialise with our parents and my Mum and I are very close. We wanted that for us in the future. We decided to explore adoption and it took two years, from that first phone call to having Bea come to live with us. She was nine months old.
I had to give up on the idea of having my own genetic child and there was a certain amount of mourning involved. The notion left my head but it was still in my heart. I can pinpoint the day when the idea finally left me for good. It was the day we were approved for adoption. Before that, I was still thinking, maybe I will still get pregnant, as everyone says it will happen when you least expect it. Since then I haven't cared about getting pregnant and now I wouldn't want a birth child, because Bea might feel left out. I don't want that complication for her. If someone said I could go back 10 years and get pregnant, I categorically wouldn't do it.
I feel so proud of our daughter and what we've done. Anyone can have a baby, but not everyone can adopt. There's no doubt in our minds that we weren't meant to have a biological child, because she was already there waiting for us. It's one of the best things we ever did. I know women on their seventh and eight IVF cycles. It's heartbreaking. I wish they would consider adoption as another way to achieve a family, rather than as a second best.
For more information on adoption, visit www.baaf.org.uk
To read more go to http://bit.ly/pZssDB
Saturday, 4 June 2011
Multiple embryo transfers during IVF are reducing says HFEA
The proportion of risky multiple births during IVF treatment is falling according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). Multiple birth pregnancies have a higher chance of miscarriage, and of leading to premature birth and of babies with cerebral palsy.
The HFEA said 23.6% of IVF births led to more than one child at the beginning of 2008, which fell to 22% in mid 2009. The Multiple Births Foundation said it was "great news".
Multiple births are a consequence of increasing the odds of IVF working. Implanting more embryos increases the chance of success, but also the chance of twins or triplets. The HFEA has introduced targets for reducing multiple births because of the health concerns for mother and child. It has aimed for fewer than 24% IVF births resulting in more than one child by April 2010, 20% by April 2011 and 15% by April 2012.
Multiple births have health risks for the babies and the mother. The reduction so far has largely been down to increased use of a technique called single embryo transfer. Only one embryo is implanted in women who have the greatest chance of getting pregnant. HFEA figures show this has not affected the success rate.
Professor Lisa Jardine, chair of the HFEA said: "It is excellent news that the number of multiple births is coming down whilst overall success rates for patients are still being maintained. This shows that the policy is proving successful." Susan Seenan, from the Infertility Network UK, said: "With full funding on the NHS - if patients could access three cycles - a lot more women would be willing and able to go for single embryo transfer.
To read more go to
The HFEA said 23.6% of IVF births led to more than one child at the beginning of 2008, which fell to 22% in mid 2009. The Multiple Births Foundation said it was "great news".
Multiple births are a consequence of increasing the odds of IVF working. Implanting more embryos increases the chance of success, but also the chance of twins or triplets. The HFEA has introduced targets for reducing multiple births because of the health concerns for mother and child. It has aimed for fewer than 24% IVF births resulting in more than one child by April 2010, 20% by April 2011 and 15% by April 2012.
Multiple births have health risks for the babies and the mother. The reduction so far has largely been down to increased use of a technique called single embryo transfer. Only one embryo is implanted in women who have the greatest chance of getting pregnant. HFEA figures show this has not affected the success rate.
Professor Lisa Jardine, chair of the HFEA said: "It is excellent news that the number of multiple births is coming down whilst overall success rates for patients are still being maintained. This shows that the policy is proving successful." Susan Seenan, from the Infertility Network UK, said: "With full funding on the NHS - if patients could access three cycles - a lot more women would be willing and able to go for single embryo transfer.
To read more go to
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