At Gift IVF, we are proud to
have helped many intended parents realize their dream through IVF and
Surrogacy. This is the unique story of a couple, whose aspiration to become
parents were fulfilled at our clinic. Well, this is not a story, it is a true
happening however, the names and places have been changed to conceal the real
identity.
Ram & Laxmi were
childhood friends, they lived and studied in the same village and school. They
used to walk along the same path near to the paddy fields, through the mango
grooves to the school every day and soon they fell in love. Nobody took it
seriously as everybody thought this was just another teenage infatuation. Years
went by and these children grew to adolescence and into adulthood and their
bond grew stronger with time. Ram grew to be a strong handsome young man and
Laxmi turned to a beautiful curvaceous young lady. Little did they realize what
was in waiting for them.
As Ram and Laxmi turned 27
and 25, it was time to get married as was the custom. There was no obstacle, as the families knew each other and
wedding went on smoothly with splendor and grandeur. Towards the end of the
celebrations the young couple was led into their nuptial bedroom for their
first night together with the traditional glass of milk. It was then that Ram
came to a shocking realization that Laxmi was suffering from a disease called
Testicular Feminisation Syndrome.
Testicular Feminisation
Syndrome, more appropriately called the
complete Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS), is a genetic disorder that makes XY (male)
fetuses insensitive (unresponsive) to androgens (male hormones). When a baby is
conceived the male gamete or sperm decides if the baby should be a boy or a
girl. If the sperm fertilizes the egg that
has XY chromosome the baby is a boy and if it is with an XX chromosome the baby
is a girl. It is in their adolescent stage the differentiation of males and
females happen, till then boys and girls are very similar. In puberty they
develop the Gonads (The primary sex organ) ovaries in girls and testicles in
boys. The males, born with the XY Chromosome have testicles and starts to
produce a hormone called the Androgen from the puberty stage which gives them
the male characteristics – such as musculature, broad shoulders, facial hairs,
bass voice etc… and the baby with XX Chromosome is born a girl and from puberty
produces female hormones namely Estrogen and it is this hormone which gives
women the feminine secondary sexual characters – curves, breasts, soft smooth
skin, long hair, etc…
People with this syndrome cannot
be diagnosed easily as they have no symptoms. They are born looking externally
like normal girls, whereas geno typically they are males and are infertile.
Socially they are considered as neither male nor female. Internally there is a
short blind-pouch vagina and no uterus, fallopian tubes or ovaries. For some
even the vaginal orifice is absent. There are testes in the abdomen or the
inguinal canal which is usually mistaken for ovaries and during adolescence
they produce high amount of Androgen but as the name of this syndrome signifies
– the cells in the body are insensitive to Androgens and these get converted to
Estrogen. Hence, a person with AIS will look externally like a beautiful woman,
as in the case of Laxmi. As this is not a common condition and since discussing
sex is considered a taboo in our culture, these conditions often go unnoticed
and undiagnosed. The complete androgen insensitivity syndrome is usually
detected only at puberty, when a
girl should but does not begin to menstruate. Many of the girls diagnosed with
this syndrome have no pubic or auxiliary (armpit) hair. They have luxuriant
scalp hair without temporal (male-pattern) balding. As they do not have uterus
or ovaries, they are sterile and cannot bear children.
Recorded descriptions of the
effects of androgen insensitivity syndrome dates back to hundreds of years,
although significant understanding of its underlying histopathology would not occur until the 1950s. This syndrome was
formally identified in 1950. There are about 7,500 people affected with AIS in
USA alone. The testicles in these patients produced a hormone that had a
feminizing effect on the body, a phenomenon that is now understood to occur due
to the inaction of androgens, and subsequent aromatization of testosterone into estrogen. In this condition, an organism
is born with primary sex characteristics of one sex but develops the secondary sex characteristics that are different from what would be expected on the
basis of the gonadal tissue (ovary or testis).
Coming back to our story,
Laxmi had not disclosed this to anybody until now. Ram, who was truly in love
with Laxmi, being a very kind hearted and understanding person, decided to face
the consequences together. They visited various hospitals and clinics in India
and in USA, where Ram was working. But they got the same reply everywhere that,
Laxmi is a typical complete AIS candidate who did not even poses a vaginal orifice
and they cannot have children. A vaginoplasty was done which improved their sex
life, but they were not happy as they craved for a child. This was when they
approached us. I was able to explain to them about surrogacy and availability
of donor egg. This was a turning point in their life. Using Ram’s sperm and a
donor egg, IVF was done and successfully the embryo was transferred to a
surrogate mother. 36 weeks later a baby girl was born and their happiness cannot
be described. Ram and Laxmi were shedding tears of happiness and she could not
take her eyes off their baby and she was holding her close to her bosom for
hours together.
These are the moments worth living
for, to see the joy in the eyes of those who had lost all hopes of having their
progeny. We are also content that we could aid in fulfilling their dreams, when
they had no hope of completing their family. Now they have flown back to the
USA, a happy and complete family.
All of us had a prayer on our lips “May they live happily
ever after”……………………
Dr. Mani
Surrogacy Specialist
Director - GIFT IVF Centre
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