Canadian Gives Daughter a Gift of Life

A Montreal woman has frozen her eggs so that her seven-year-old daughter can use them when she becomes an adult. 36-year-old Melanie Boivin's daughter cannot have children because of a genetic condition.

McGill University Reproductive Center in Montreal has pioneered a program that has been used for cancer patients and those who are not yet ready to have children. This opportunity that Ms. Boivin has given her daughter is indeed a first in North America and does raise a lot of ethical questions, this according to doctors at the university center.

No one knows if her daughter will choose to become pregnant using her mother's eggs when she grows up. Technically, she will be giving birth to her biological half sister. Her mother will be the mother and the grandmother. This is a mother's love, says the director of the McGill Reproductive Centre and a prominent expert on infertility treatments during an interview Wednesday night.

The doctor continued to say, "It's the same as donating a kidney to your child ".

There are more than 60 cases of women freezing their eggs in North America however mother to daughter are the most prominent. The medical ethics committee of the McGill Reproductive Centre has reviewed this case and they have endorsed it.

Boivin decided to donate her eggs after she discovered that her daughter would not be able to have children due to having Turner's syndrome. Turner's syndrome is when one of the two X chromosomes normally in females is either missing or incomplete.

Turner's syndrome occurs in one out of 2500 females and some of the most common characteristics of the syndrome are short stature and lack of ovarian development.

"Parents are always there to help their children, if she would have needed anything else say an organ or a kidney; I would have done that also" says Boivin.

Ms. Boivin has not agreed to be interviewed because this discussion has created some issues for her daughter.

Boivin's eggs are to be frozen for 20 to 25 years. The freezing method is called vitrification, was developed by a research team who are experts in infertility at the McGill University Reproductive Center, and has dramatically increased the survival rate of the eggs.

The eggs are frozen and stored in protective devices until they are ready to be used. The pregnancy rate is about the same between regular fresh eggs and vitrification eggs. It will be up to Boivin's daughter whether she wants to use her mother's eggs or not.

"It does take time for people to be used to this type of idea. After all, many people did not approve of test tube baby technology 30 years ago," the doctor said.

Sources:
Staff Writer "Canada mum freezes eggs so daughter can have child" Yahoo News
URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070419/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_childbearing