Couple tries to have baby to harvest stem cells
Chalk this up as another reason to bank cord blood. A couple in British Columbia are trying to have a baby for pretty much only one reason — to collect the stem cells from the infant’s umbilical cord blood to help their 8-year-old son battle leukemia. We get it — we’re certainly not going to pretend that we know the lengths we would go through to save our child. But you have to admit it’s an odd way to begin a parent/child bond.
A Port Coquitlam, B.C., couple is hoping to battle their eight-year-old son’s leukemia by having a so-called saviour baby, even though they admit their chances of success are slim.
“There are such things as miracles, so we are going to hope for that,” Pam Obadia told CBC Monday morning.
Pam and her husband Michael Obadia, both 47, are trying to have another child so they can use stem cells from the umbilical cord blood to help their son Ben beat leukemia.
The process is called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis and involves pre-screening embryos before the in vitro fertilization procedure to find one that matches their son’s tissue type.
Information from: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/04/1...
