Mother's Eggs Give Daughter the Chance of a Baby

Mother's eggs give daughter the chance of a baby
JOHN VON RADOWITZ

THE first mother-to-daughter egg donation was announced by doctors yesterday.

If the Canadian girl, now aged seven, ever uses the eggs to have a baby she would effectively be giving birth to her own half sister or brother.

Flavie Boivin, from Montreal, was born with Turner's Syndrome, a genetic condition that causes impaired growth and learning difficulties. It also destroys eggs, leading to an unusually early menopause.

A patient's fertility can be preserved by freezing her ovarian tissue or eggs before the disease progresses. However, this carries a high risk of miscarriage or babies being born with genetic abnormalities.

Another option is egg donation, often by a second- degree relative such as a cousin or aunt. In Flavie's case, her mother stepped in by making a gift of her eggs - the first time this has happened.

Her mother, lawyer Melanie Boivin, 35,

said: "The role of a mother is essentially to help her children and if I could do anything in my power to help Flavie I had to do it, and because of my age I had to do it now.

"I told myself if she had needed another organ like a kidney I would volunteer without any hesitation, and it is the same kind of thought process for this."

Dr Seang Lin Tan, who led the team, presented details of the egg donation at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Lyons, France.

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Last updated: 03-Jul-07 00:36 BST