UTERUS TRANSPLANT: GIVNG HOPE TO THE HOPELESS

Sometimes when people display their love for others, one may be tempted to ask if it’s a movie or a dream. Some stories sound really unbelievable and simply like  fairy  tales until you wake up to reality that it’s not just a dream but as real as the pain you would feel if you pinched yourself.

The case of  Lolita Wasterlund, one of the few people in the world to have a uterine transplant is like one of such tales. She was lucky to have her sister donate her uterus for the procedure thereby making it the first and only time this has happened between siblings.

According to details from BBC, Lolita was born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome which meant she had only one kidney, a shortened vagina and no uterus making it difficult to carry a baby.

In a chat with Sarah Brett and Nihal Arthanayake on BBC Radio 5 live, she said it was "really hard" because "she always wanted a baby" and "always wanted to be a mother".

This would give some sort of hope to many who have the same medical issues like Lolita hence more enquiries should be made for all those who are interested.

The way medicine and technology is going, it would not be surprising to see the huge number of couples who are struggling with infertility decline drastically given the so many options springing up by the day.

Nevertheless, it is pertinent that before embarking on the options available, it would do a lot of good to check out the risks involved even as Doctors from the University of Gothenburg who performed the surgery on Lolita noted that the procedure  is seen as particularly risky when there is a living donor.

Lolita's sister Linda said she only felt scared after the surgery adding that "when Lolita had got my womb then I got scared. I was thinking what would happen if it didn't work and I've put false hope into my sister's mind". However the good news at the end of the day is that the family was elated when Lolita gave birth to a son Cash-Douglas in June 2015.

Now that kind of love is truely like fairytale.

Fertility: Ectogenesis And Its Many Concerns

The first time I heard the word ‘ectogenesis’ I never envisaged that it would turn out to mean what I eventually found out.

Now to every woman out there, for those of you who may just be getting to hear the word ‘ectogenesis’ for the first time, it means pregnancy in an artificial womb, that is, outside the human body.

I am not talking about IVF here, neither am I talking about surrogacy. It is a whole lot different from IVF which is the transfer of a fertilized embryo into a woman for gestational period or even surrogacy. No! ectogenesis is a whole lot different from that as the pregnancy starts from fertilization to birth in the artificial womb. An environment which is entirely different from the human body, created by scientists.

Permit me to say “this leaves some sort of bitter-sweet taste in the mouth”, because for some people, it could be an applauded idea but not so for a lot of other people.

Now, let’s see it from the sweet perspective. It will be ‘hurray’ news for a lot of women who have being battling with infertility due to some medical issue or some other unexplained issues beyond what the doctors can fathom. So for such people who, despite their medical issues, may not still want to have surrogates help with the birth of their children for fear of legal complications, this news will come as sweet for them especially if they can afford it.

On the other hand, with the way science is going, it’s as though the natural process of childbirth is getting threatened as a lot of women especially ‘feminists’ who do not want their bodies altered in anyway due to pregnancy would resort to the ‘ectogenesis’ method of childbearing and before you know it, it becomes a class or status thing thereby giving those who still engage in natural childbearing process the look of ‘low-class people who cannot afford ectogenesis’ and thereafter become another form of stigmatisation in the society.

It is worrisome when you hear people who do not have fertility issues but would go on to say ‘I need a baby but I can’t put up with having to carry the baby in my womb for nine months so I’d rather have someone do it for me’. Gosh! What a selfish thought!!

Like someone said, when a woman says such a thing, what is the guarantee that she can take care of that child after it is born?  Good question isn’t it?

A lot of women would give anything just to experience childbirth and so it is alarming to see very fortunate ones take it for granted.

Now back to the issue of ectogenesis. Some people’s fears have been raised as they foresee an over populated world in the nearest future if the practice becomes highly accepted by thousands of people. Others fear that the biological female reproductive labour may not become necessary anymore and could eventually become outdated.

However another group of people believe that if laws and legislation are put up to curtail the abuse of the

practice then it would be a great idea for those who really do need the procedure.

Now, what say you?