A mother's love for her dead son has pushed her to use his sperm to bring to life two set of twins from her late son.
The mother used her dead son's sperm to get herself a set of twins
The parents of a 27-year-old man, who died of a brain tumour in
2016, used his cryopreserved semen to have grandchildren through a
surrogate pregnancy.
The preserved semen of Pune’s Prathamesh Patil was used to
fertilise the eggs from a non-family anonymous donor with matching
features and the embryo was then implanted in a close relative.
Semen cryopreservation, which is commonly called sperm banking, is a
process of freezing sperm cells to preserve them so that they can be
used in the future.
The woman, who is Prathamesh’s aunt, delivered twins on February 12.
Prathamesh’s mother Rajashree Patil said he was diagnosed with an
aggressive brain tumour in 2013 in Germany, where he went to pursue his
master’s degree in 2010 after graduating from Sinhgad College of
Engineering, and also lost his sight during treatment.
“... health experts in Germany suggested Prathamesh to start
chemotherapy and radiation. They also asked him to preserve his semen to
avoid any negative circumstances post the treatment,” Rajashree said.
“... I brought him back to India and took him to a hospital in
Mumbai where he was operated upon and things began to improve. However,
in between, he got another convulsion and was detected with a recurring
tumour. This time, he succumbed to the malignant tumour,” the private school teacher said.
Prathamesh had lost his speech and was bedridden before he died on September 3, 2016.
“My daughter stopped talking. I walked around with my son’s
photo, kept it at the dinner table and served food. That’s when I
thought, why not have some part of him that is ‘live’ and can be with
us,” Rajashree was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.
Rajashree contacted the sperm bank in Germany where Prathamesh had
preserved his semen and she completed the formalities to bring it back.
She then approached Sahyadri Hospitals for the in vitro fertilisation
(IVF) procedure to “get her son back”.
“I am menopausal, so doctors ruled me out for the pregnancy. A
married relative offered to be the surrogate mother and she handed over
the twins to me the minute they were born,” the Indian Express quoted her as saying.
Rajashree has named them Prathamesh and Preesha or God’s gift, according to the Express.
Dr Supriya Puranik, head of the IVF department at Sahyadri
Hospital, said Rajashree’s case was different than other women
delivering babies through the artificial procedure.
“Being an IVF specialist, I am happy that science and new
technologies are adding cheerful moments in people’s lives... But here,
in this case, it was about a grief-stricken mother whose son was away
for studies when he faced health issues,” Dr Puranik said.
“We appreciate the kind of spirit she has shown in this entire
process and we congratulate her for having her son back in the form of
these twin healthy babies,” she added.
-Culled from hindustantimes
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