Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2005
By Pittsburgh, Pa.
There was the heart-wrenching day in the spring of 2001 when Steve and Kate Johnson arrived with high hopes at Hershey Medical Center, ready to have new embryos implanted, only to learn they hadn't survived the thawing process.
Or the frantic search over the phone to workers at Newark Liberty International Airport for a poorly labeled Fed-Ex package that contained their adopted embryos, packed in dry ice, from a Canadian couple. In the end, after receiving
11 embryos, the Johnsons gave birth to Zara. The little girl with blond curls who loves to sing and color turned 3 this month.
The Johnsons, who live outside of Reading, are the beneficiaries of an emerging industry that is making embryos left from infertility treatments available to other couples seeking children. It's a practice heavily backed by the Bush administration, which is distributing federal grants to promote these options. An estimated 400,000 frozen embryos are being stored in the United States, most owned by couples planning to produce more children or who are trying to decide what to do with them. Only a small percentage has been donated for research.
The Johnsons married in 1995, two years after Steve, 44, had been in a bicycle accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down. After they experienced infertility problems, they were plodding slowly through the traditional adoption process. Then they heard a radio broadcast about embryo adoption offered by Nightlight Christian Adoptions in Fullerton, Calif., since 1997.
The agency's Snowflakes Frozen Embryo Adoption Program offers open adoptions, handled much like those in traditional child adoptions. The recipient couple undergoes a home study and criminal background check. Information on the interested families is provided to couples seeking to donate their embryos, who make the choice.
The Johnsons initially were matched with a Maryland couple, who donated six embryos, none of which survived the thaw. Typically, a half to two-thirds of frozen embryos are viable after thawing. The Johnsons then were matched with a couple living in a Toronto suburb. Five embryos were provided.
Kate had three embryos implanted, without success. She tried again with the final two in September 2001, and Zara was born.
" I would encourage anyone to have hope, and lots of it, and patience," said Kate, 48, about the experience.
" Anyone who hasn't gone through fertility issues doesn't realize how much of a miracle and how complex it is."
The genetic parents, who have two children of their own, age 7 and 5, haven't met Zara, but Kate sends them photos and other mementos of Zara each January and August, after Christmas and her birthday. The Canadian parents send pictures of their children.
" We want Zara to know she does have genetic siblings," Steve said. "We don't know when that will be. At this point in time, she knows we have friends in Canada and [that] they send us pictures of their children.
" And she knows she's a snowflake."
The Snowflake program is the oldest in the country, and has assisted in the birth of 86 babies. Within the past two years, Embryos Alive was established in Cincinnati, and the National Embryo Adoption Program opened at Baptist Hospital for Women in Knoxville, Tenn.
Frozen embryo donation an emerging industry
Sunday, July 31, 2005
By Virginia Linn, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Susan Walsh, Associated Press
Frozen embryo adoptees Zara Johnson, 3, of Reading, and Jonah Vest, 3, of Hamilton, Va., play during a stem-cell news conference on Capitol Hill May 24.
Click photo for larger image.
There was the heart-wrenching day in the spring of 2001 when Steve and Kate Johnson arrived with high hopes at Hershey Medical Center, ready to have new embryos implanted, only to learn they hadn't survived the thawing process.
Or the frantic search over the phone to workers at Newark Liberty International Airport for a poorly labeled Fed-Ex package that contained their adopted embryos, packed in dry ice, from a Canadian couple.
In the end, after receiving 11 embryos, the Johnsons gave birth to Zara. The little girl with blond curls who loves to sing and color turned 3 this month.
The Johnsons, who live outside of Reading, are the beneficiaries of an emerging industry that is making embryos left from infertility treatments available to other couples seeking children. It's a practice heavily backed by the Bush administration, which is distributing federal grants to promote these options. An estimated 400,000 frozen embryos are being stored in the United States, most owned by couples planning to produce more children or who are trying to decide what to do with them. Only a small percentage has been donated for research.
The Johnsons married in 1995, two years after Steve, 44, had been in a bicycle accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down. After they experienced infertility problems, they were plodding slowly through the traditional adoption process. Then they heard a radio broadcast about embryo adoption offered by Nightlight Christian Adoptions in Fullerton, Calif., since 1997.
The agency's Snowflakes Frozen Embryo Adoption Program offers open adoptions, handled much like those in traditional child adoptions. The recipient couple undergoes a home study and criminal background check. Information on the interested families is provided to couples seeking to donate their embryos, who make the choice.
The Johnsons initially were matched with a Maryland couple, who donated six embryos, none of which survived the thaw. Typically, a half to two-thirds of frozen embryos are viable after thawing. The Johnsons then were matched with a couple living in a Toronto suburb. Five embryos were provided.
Kate had three embryos implanted, without success. She tried again with the final two in September 2001, and Zara was born.
" I would encourage anyone to have hope, and lots of it, and patience," said Kate, 48, about the experience.
" Anyone who hasn't gone through fertility issues doesn't realize how much of a miracle and how complex it is."
The genetic parents, who have two children of their own, age 7 and 5, haven't met Zara, but Kate sends them photos and other mementos of Zara each January and August, after Christmas and her birthday. The Canadian parents send pictures of their children.
" We want Zara to know she does have genetic siblings," Steve said. "We don't know when that will be. At this point in time, she knows we have friends in Canada and [that] they send us pictures of their children.
" And she knows she's a snowflake."
The Snowflake program is the oldest in the country, and has assisted in the birth of 86 babies. Within the past two years, Embryos Alive was established in Cincinnati, and the National Embryo Adoption Program opened at Baptist Hospital for Women in Knoxville, Tenn.
Bonnie Bernard, who founded an international adoption agency and home study program in Cincinnati, branched out with Embryos Alive after seeing all the frustrations families experienced when they couldn't find children in the United States to adopt. In her program, donors can be identified or remain anonymous.
Its first baby arrived in January, and its second is due in September.
In these programs, recipients pay from $4,000 to more than $6,000, which covers the program fee, home study costs and shipping of the embryos. There are no fees for the donors.
The Johnsons were among several families in the Snowflakes program who met President Bush in May. Bush has pushed embryo adoption as an alternative to using extra embryos for stem-cell research.
While the option makes sense on paper, Sean Tipton, spokesman for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, is concerned that the government might go too far.
" We are all for embryo donation being offered," Tipton said. "We think it's a great option. So far, it's been an option very few patients are choosing. We feel strongly that these decisions stay in the hands of patients, and not be mandated by government."