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Latest Surrogacy News
Embryo failure rocks family
By Peta Rasdien
March 12, 2004
The
Western Australia
HOPES
that a new baby would save their sick daughter collapsed
for a Perth family this week when they received the
devastating news that an embryo implanted through
in-vitro fertilisation had not survived.
The financial and emotional toll of travelling to a
Sydney IVF clinic to screen embryos for disease and
ensure they were an exact tissue match for the Vara
family's sick six-year-old daughter Anisha could prevent
them trying again.
Anisha has the rare condition diamond blackfan anaemia,
which means she is unable to produce red blood cells.
The only cure is a bone marrow transplant which would be
possible using the umbilical cord blood of a baby
brother or sister who was an exact tissue match.
The process of creating a baby to help save its sick
sibling sparked controversy this week, with the Catholic
Church and some lobby groups opposed because unwanted
embryos are discarded.
For six years the Varas, of Lynwood, urged people to
join the bone marrow registry in the hope of finding a
match for Anisha but they were unsuccessful.
The family's ethnic background added to difficulties of
finding a match.
It was the second time the Varas had attempted to create
a tissue-match baby. A procedure at the clinic before
Christmas also failed.
"At the moment our family is taking a little bit of time
to deal with the loss that we are facing but we
certainly haven't ruled out maybe going again," Anisha's
mother Dipika said.
Already the steroids which Anisha must take every other
day to stay alive have stunted her growth and caused low
bone density.
If she is forced to continue the treatment she risks
cataracts and worsening bone density.
The Vara family were forced to travel to Sydney twice to
create and screen an embryo for the genetic disease and
the tissue match because it is currently illegal in WA.
Legislation is before State Parliament to allow the
procedure but local IVF specialists have said it would
probably be too costly to set up a laboratory in Perth
to do the testing. There would not be enough couples
needing the service to warrant it.
Mrs Vara was thankful for all the support that had been
offered but was upset that valuable time was being
wasted while legislation languished in Parliament.
She said in the meantime the Health Department should
provide financial assistance for families having to
travel east, otherwise it was out of reach for poor
families.
"If you have the finances you have access to this
treatment that could save your children's life and give
you healthy children in the future," Mrs Vara said.
"If you don't, well you have to take your chances and
hope for the best."
Mrs Vara said the screening procedure cost about $13,000
but West Australians could expect to pay several
thousand dollars more for airfares and expenses while
they were in Sydney.
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