Image: https://marde-rooz.com'Lisa' was so desperate to have another son, she posted a plea on Facebook to see if anyone wanted to trade embryos with her. People didn't take it well.
A mum has taken to the internet in a desperate bid to trade embryos with another mum.
And in doing so she's treading dangerously close to legal thin ice, experts say.
After spotting a pair of young brothers on the street near their home in Bushwick in New York, Lisa's young son turned to his mum and asked: “When am I going to get a brother?”
The five-year-old wants nothing more than a little brother with whom he can share his bedroom, and play with.
Lisa (who's name has been changed for privacy reasons), has struggled with infertility issues for nine years.
And the 37-year-old is so desperate to have another son, she is ready to trade her one female embryo — the last embryo she has remaining after multiple rounds of IVF — for the male embryo of a stranger.
“I’m doing this for my son,” she told The New York Post. “My husband grew up with sisters and wants a boy too. This is the way we want to complete our family.”
Last Wednesday, Lisa took drastic action, sitting down at her computer and writing a message: “Hello, we have been trying to give my child a sibling for three years … we want to complete our family with a son. We have a great quality female embryo. Would you like to consider a trade?”
The post 'Lisa' wrote to facebook. Source: facebookThey aren’t walking in my shoes.”
She posted the plea to a number of Facebook support groups for IVF couples — and the outrage was immediate.
Although no hateful comments were visible to Lisa, enough people complained to forum moderators that her post was removed from one group’s page.
However, Lisa was contacted by a 40-something California woman interested in a potential swap.
“She already has a toddler, and she has two male embryos left over,” said Lisa. “Her husband … has six sons from another marriage and then they have a boy together.
“Her husband said: ‘If we are going to go through this again, it’s going to be a girl!”
Lisa has exchanged emails with the woman who, like her, is storing the frozen embryo at a fertility centre, and they may well proceed if the woman’s husband gives the go-ahead.
“It depends whether he is hellbent on (using) his own DNA,” said Lisa.
To anyone who questions her judgment, she said: “They aren’t walking in my shoes.”
