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The parents of Britain's only "saviour sibling" twins today spoke of their decision to create them as donors for their sick six-year-old son.
Amy and Anthony Maguire were born after doctors suggested using IVF treatment to select embryos which would be a perfect match for their brother Connor. He suffers from aplastic anaemia, a condition where the immune system destroys parts of the bone marrow which produces blood cells.
Their father Laurence Maguire, 42, denied the decision was as simple as creating a "spare parts" baby.
"I never ever think that we didn't have the twins for the right reason," he said. "Once you see your children, any notion that they are spare parts is gone. We wouldn't change anything, they are our children and we love them all."
Mr Maguire said he and partner Wendy Plant, 37, chose to try the IVF programme after a worldwide search for a bone marrow match for Connor drew a blank. Another son, Daniel, four, was not a match.
Ms Plant's consultant, Dr Sarah Ball, at St George's Hospital, Tooting, suggested the couple considered creating a so-called saviour sibling as they were intending to have more children.
With the help of fertility doctor Mohammed Taranissi, at the Assisted Reproduction and Gynaecology Centre, they started treatment to create embryos in a laboratory, which were then tested to see if they could be suitable as future bone marrow donors.
The babies, now two, were born at St Helier Hospital and cord blood was taken and stored. This can be used to harvest stem cells to be used to treat Connor in the future. There have only been 12 licences to create saviour siblings and in all other cases a single child was born.
Reader views (1)
If they are going to subject the kids to painful, frightening procedures without their real consent (asking them, at their age, if they want to help their brother would not be a realistic 'informed consent' when they have no choice in the matter), then seeing them as kids now that they are here means nothing - they were produced as spare parts for their brother. As tragic as that is for their brother, that is still wrong.
- Rogan, Irving, 10/08/2009 21:47
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