COUPLES often face hard decisions when experiencing infertility and harder choices when going through fertility treatments, and yet if they are successful, they face many other
decisions as well. Thirty six years ago, on July 25, 1978, Lesley and John Brown faced such decisions prior to successfully undergoing a
complicated and at that time, relatively unknown assisted reproductive procedure known as In Vitro Fertilisation, IVF.
The birth of their famous daughter, Louise Joy, at Oldham General Hospital, in the UK, ensured that the Browns will be forever remembered as the world’s pioneering IVF
parents. It is thanks to efforts of English scientist Robert Edwards, and his medical colleague Patrick Steptoe, that Louise, technically the
world’s first “test tube baby” baby was created through the procedure of introducing fertilised eggs into a woman’s womb for a successful IVF pregnancy. Millions of couples all over the world challenged by infertility have since been inspired to toe the path of the Browns by adopting the revolutionary IVF intervention to become parents of their own biological children. To date more than five million IVF babies have been born. On September 14, 2004, in Lagos, Nigeria, precisely 23 years after the historic birth of the world’s first IVF baby, Emmanuel and
Francesca Onwudijo, joined the growing list of happy parents of perfectly healthy IVF children with the birth of their son, Julian Oluchukwu (God’s work).
Nobody knew for certain that Julian, who was conceived through a combined Assisted Reproduction Technique, ART, of IVF andIntracytosplasmic Sperm Injection, ICSI, was going to be the first IVF baby at Nordica fertility Centre, Lagos, until after his mother
got pregnant at the first attempt.
Although separated by space and time, in several ways, the Browns and the Onwudijos had a lot in common. While the Browns had
been trying to have a baby for the better part of a decade, the Onwudijos had been searching for the fruit of the womb for five agonising years. Like all IVF babies, at birth, Louise and Julian were miracles to their parents. Louise, who is now a mother of two, marked her 36th birthday earlier in July, while Julian clocked 10 Sunday last week. Like Lesley, he was successfully delivered through a Caesarean Section. In a chat, Julian who loves Jollof rice and chicken, is currently in Basic 6, and would like
to be an engineer, told Sunday Vanguard that his mother told him about the origins of his conception a long time ago and how, she and his father didn’t really have an option after going public to let other couples know how he was conceived and born. Journey to motherhood In a trip down memory lane, Julian’s mother, Francesca, recalled the long journey to motherhood. Unlike Louise’s mother, Lesley, whose fallopian tubes were blocked, Francesca
recalled that she had no such impediment. “I got married in July 1999 and had Julian in 2004 – that was five years interval. I was taking treatment at Lagoon Hospital, but went to the internet to search for solution. You know when a woman is looking for the fruit of the womb, she would do anything and go anywhere. I was in the office and was just going through the internet when I saw the website of Nordica Fertility Centre, I took the address, at that time the clinic was at VGC, in
Lekki. I went there and made enquires. That was how I met Dr. Abayomi Ajayi who I had known at Lagoon Hospital. I tried the first
time and and to God be the glory, it was successful. There is never any harm trying.” Francesca who said she has never had had to defend the fact that she gave birth to an IVF
baby, had no problems about the issue of stigma. “We went through the normal tests, there was nothing wrong, I was 24 or 25 then I could not wait to carry my baby rather than waiting and doing nothing. I was not intimidated by the cost. I had no fears or reservations at that
time. “I read a lot found out what the process was about. It was a kind of assisted process. I knew that. It wasn’t as if the baby was going
to fall from heaven, it is a natural process, I made enquires and was satisfied. Julian wasn’t the first IVF baby in Nigeria. He was a normal baby and has grown into a normal
child. He was perfect at birth and has been perfect in every way a baby should be. Julian has grown to be very intelligent, normal and smart just as babies from normal conception. I have not observed any abnormality whatsoever.” Nothing to hide Francesca, who had to rely on her trust in the church and has stood before congregations to talk about her experience, said she has never
had to defend what she did or hidden it from anybody. “I had no problems about the issue of stigma. I have never hidden the fact that I did assisted reproduction. There is nothing to hide because he is my blood. It was my egg that was taken as well as my husband’s sperm. So there is nothing to hide. For those
that are hiding, it is ignorance. They need to be better educated about the process”, she stated. “The church I attend does not preach against IVF. I recall a few years ago, a doctor was invited from Abuja to lecture women on the IVF. He did with his team and educated women and asked the church to bring out
three women to be given free IVF cycles. They did. Out of them, one was 54 years old; now she has two kids, twins – a boy and a girl. The husband was 69 last year. Another is carrying her baby now. “If I were to be in a church that preaches against IVF, since I have gone through the
process, I would try to educate women and let them know that it is not as if the baby is coming from another planet. It is an assisted
procedure just to aid you to conceive. I can even go to the Pastor and use myself as example. My faith always works for me, I believe in God and so far he has not failed me.
Why would you suffer in silence when you know there is an alternative? Why are you dying in pains? Children come from God. You
just try the best you can”. IVF and controversy Almost since its inception, IVF has been a subject of ethical and controversy. Today
some arguments once made against the process have fallen by the wayside, while others remain unchanged. Arguments in favour
of IVF have remained fairly consistent over the years, notably the potential of allowing previously infertile couples to finally have
children of their own. Prior to IVF, it was more or less the end of the line for infertile patients, but today, IVF is almost like the rule than the option for infertile couples. Daily, babies are conceived and born throughout the world, but the percentage of those born with the help of assisted
reproductive technologies doesn’t appear to matter. Rather, what matters is that the techniques available to infertile couples work.
It matters that wonderful doctors are helping people have a child, but it doesn’t matter how those children were conceived or born. What matters is that they are coming into the world at all. However, people ask if there is need to get wrapped up in the ethics of reproductive medicines, when the bottom line is to be helping a couple bring a normal, healthy child into the world.
Effective but expensive Speaking on the birth of Julian, Medical Director/CEO, Nordica Fertility Centre, Lagos,
Asaba and Abuja, Dr Abayomi Ajayi, said it represents a new beginning in the history of Nordica, a new hope for parenthood. “Julian is like a son to us all here, our greatest achievement indeed. In view of our successes recorded, first with Julian our first baby and all those that came thereafter has necessitated the need for further advocacy
by the parents in order to share the good news”, Ajayi said. “Whilst we have achieved monumental growth
in the number of babies conceived, we have equally not neglected our corporate social responsibility. Working in conjunction with the
Fertility Treatment Support Foundation, FTSF, free fertility treatments have been made available to over 58 couples with diverse infertility challenges. We also work with the ESGN, Endometriosis Support Group
Nigeria, the only Foundation supporting this cause in West Africa”. On IVF, he described it more as a necessity than an option for infertile couples. “It is unfortunate that infertility is seen as a personal problem. We know it is a social
problem. In Nigeria, unfortunately, the government is not and probably cannot for now sponsor fertility treatment. But government still needs to look at some of these things, and may be providing more
centres that can cater for people who are might not be able to afford IVF.” Noting that IVF treatment isn’t cheap anywhere in the world, Ajayi remarked that the way out is for government to help put the issue on the front burner. “An experience I’ve seen i s that IVF treatment is not only taken up by the rich because we place a high premium on child bearing in this part of the world. And what people do is that it is like a family challenge. Once somebody
has infertility in the family, I’ve seen people contribute money for people to have treatment. It is like a family challenge. Now that the government cannot measure up now, banks are coming up with initiatives that can
make you pay in instalments. We know that there are companies beginning to take fertility treatment as part of their staff welfare. They
are very few, but there is light down the tunnel and this is what we need to keep doing.” The doctor, who maintained that IVF success rate is the same everywhere in the world,
however, regrets the lack of nationwide data in Nigeria. ‘Success is age-dependent’ “The success rate is age-dependent. Julian’s mother had age in her side, because life comes primarily from the egg, so the younger the egg, when every other thing is normal, the better the success rate. This is why we tell people not to leave IVF as the last resort, because if you do you are actually compromising on success rate”, he said. “We want people to report early so that there
will be proper assessment.
Source: VANGUARD
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