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.
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