journal entry

Dear journal, day 736

       Today I was strolling through the park when I caught a view of a couple pushing a stroller. The stroller held a curly red haired baby with rosy red cheeks. This made me halt, and I was over came by sadness. All I could do was staring for a few moments. I have always longed to be a mother, but my mitochondrial disorder is the hindrance that is in the way of my dreams (wordy). The disorder I have is one that affects all the cells in my body aside from red blood cells. Having mitochondrial disorders, I am at high risk for mutations that can occur in my DNA. The mutations that can possibly be present are heart failure and hearing loss. In some cases death can occur with mitochondrial disorders.  I just couldn't bring a child into this world with so many risks, especially if all of his/hers health issues are my entire fault. That would be wrong of me wouldn't it? Life just isn't fair. 

Dear Journal, day 800

     Today I went to the doctor for a checkup with my OBGYN. The conversation we were having made a shift and we then started talking about the condition I have. I wanted to know if there were any possibilities of having a child without passing my mitochondrial disorder down to my children. Then I was informed by my doctor that there have been new scientific discoveries that can allow me to have children without passing my disorder down. The studies are new, not everything is fool proof, but it is definitely worth a try. The procedure is called a "Three Parent" fertility procedure. The way this would work is scientists would use my egg, a different egg from another woman, and the sperm of my spouse to create an embryo. The doctors will use the nucleus of my egg (which carries my DNA) and combine it with the non nucleated egg from the other woman. Then the egg will be fertilized by the sperm. All this procedure does is remove my healthy DNA to another egg with non mutated cytoplasm. The disorder that I have affects the cytoplasm in all cells in my body. So the nucleus of the egg that carried my DNA is not corrupted and is perfectly fine it just needs healthy cytoplasm. Hopefully with this procedure we can start a family and become the parents we want to be..... Feeling EXCITED:)

Works cited: Margalit Yehezkel, Hirano Michio, Loike Jhon; "Three Way Parenthood" The Scientist. October 1, 2013. Web.  April 9, 2014.