NRI couple wants to give life to over 15 embryos

An NRI couple used artificial fertilisation to create a 'saviour sibling' in the hope of saving their ill child.

An NRI couple who used artificial fertilisation to create a ‘saviour sibling’ in the hope of saving their terminally ill child,now plans to give a chance of life to the other 15 or so embryos they produced in the process.

According to a report in The Sunday Times,the couple Jay and Ami Bharvada,from east London,are fertile but went through four cycles of In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) to screen the embryos and find the one that was not only free from the fatal condition that afflicts their son,Jivan,but also a tissue match so the resulting baby could give him a life-saving bone marrow transplant,the only hope of cure for the four-year-old child.

The couple eventually found a suitable embryo and their daughter,Jaya,was born in May. However,the couple does not want to discard the other embryos.

Story continues below this ad

36-year-old Ami who was a business analyst before she had children said: “We are creating life. It is not something that we take lightly and although we are creating it to save another life,we didn’t believe in discarding them (the embryos) or putting them into research. We are going to have a big family”.

Without the transplant,Jivan is not expected to live much beyond the age of 10.

He suffers from a rare genetic disorder of the immune system called Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome,which means that he is prone to cancers,internal bleeding,infections and a severe form of eczema that causes his skin to fall off.

Stem cells from Jaya’s umbilical cord will be used to treat Jivan and the couple hope she will be able to give her brother a bone-marrow transplant once she is nine months old.

Story continues below this ad

The Bharvadas follow Jainism,a religion that teaches non-violence towards all living beings,and say it would be against their faith to destroy the surplus embryos,of which there are between 15 and 20.

Once Jivan has had his transplant and begins to get better,the couple plan to give the remaining embryos a chance of life.

Jay was a board member of a financial clearing and settlement house,but had to give up the position to help look after his son,who needs continuous medical attention.

He has now started two IT businesses,which he wants to be profitable before he and Ami have more children.

EAM Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Rubio hold bilateral discussions in New York

India2 hr ago

Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar and US Senator Rubio met in New York to discuss the 25% tariff on Indian oil imposed by Trump. This was their first in-person meeting since the Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting. India and the US also began talks for a trade agreement, with positive discussions during a recent visit by US trade officials to India.

View all shorts

Live Blog