Wednesday, April 10, 2013

RIP, Dr. Edwards



Today, the man who is credited with inventing IVF, for which he eventually won the Nobel Prize, died at the age of 87 after battling dementia for several years.  If it wasn't for the work of Dr Edwards & his associates, there would be approximately 5 million less humans on earth & thus several million people who would never have become parents.

Having been a part of the infertile community for several years now, I have seen numerous internet friends become parents thanks to IVF.  I have also had IRL friends who have gone through IVF to become parents.  I remember the 1st IVF baby I met who is actually a triplet from her parents' 4th IVF; she is now 11.  Little did I know back then the path my life would take into that of Aldous Huxley's fertilizing room in 'Brave New World' 

But even with this technology available, here I sit, along with so many others, for whom IVF has not produced a child to hold in my arms.  It is not the magic bullet so many fertile people think it is.  And yet, so many of us journey on, cycle after cycle, because it is our only hope.  Dr. Roberts himself never gave up hope: he began his research on what would become IVF in earnest in the late 1960s & stayed with it for nine years before yielding a live birth.




1 comment:

Rebecca said...

I am so glad that he was successful. I can't imagine having the hope that I do without the availability of the treatments out there now.