Nothing is Impossible... IVF makes 52-year-old from Meerut a mother again:

Fifty-year-old Venu and her husband Captain Sanjeev Juneja were shattered to lose their only child, Harsh Juneja, to a botched surgery at a Delhi hospital in 2012. Their son was just 27. Venu slid into depression soon afterwards, and her 57-year-old husband was haunted by the possibility of losing her too. On October 9, however, after something of a medical miracle, the couple had a baby girl. They named her Harshita in remembrance of their dead son.

To recover from the loss of their son, the two had earlier considered adoption. Under guidelines of the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), the added age of parents seeking to adopt a child less than four years old must not be over 90. A couple seeking to adopt a child up to eight years old must not have ages that add up to over 100. The added age of the Junejas was 107. That made them ineligible for a young child. The two were wary of adopting an older child, fearing he or she would face problems adapting to them.

The Junejas are residents of Hong Kong. Capt Juneja, since his retirement from the Indian Navy over a decade ago, had been working as a consultant at a merchant navy firm in that country. They had also applied for adoption in Hong Kong, but were told the minimum waiting period would be two years.

Keen not to delay the process, the couple decided to try In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). An emotional Venu told TOI, "We were left with no option, but the odds were against us. The medical reports showed that I was not fit enough to be a mother again. We were literally shunted out and mocked by the medical fraternity for even thinking on those lines."

The two visited hospitals and clinics in Australia, the US, New Zealand and Hong Kong. Everywhere, they were turned away. Venu had multiple fibrosis and suffered from adenomyosis (a condition in which the inner lining breaks through the muscle wall of the uterus). Doctors examining told her that far from conception, what she should really be considering was hysterectomy (removal of uterus) as her condition was worsening.

Just when the couple was beginning to grow despondent, a friend of their dead son came with some hope - he convinced them to try visiting IVF specialists in Meerut, who held the rare distinction of assisting a genetically male individual (with XY karyotype) deliver twins (TOI reported this on February 9).

The couple met Sunil and Anshu Jindal, IVF specialists at one of Meerut's top hospitals.

"They came to us two-and-a-half years ago. Venu's condition was really pathetic. Apart from failing uterine health, she felt hatred towards the medical world, which she held responsible for her son's premature death. We had to tackle both these problems."

Sunil Jindal explained: "Venu's uterus was full of fibroids. She had the scars of a previous myoma (benign growth) surgery. To save her uterus was our primary concern. To clean it, we had to remove eight tumours. We treated the adenomyosis. After one year of treatment, she conceived. In the fourth month, she began to bleed, but with God's grace, we succeeded in the end."

Two-and-a-half years after they landed in Meerut and a series of complications later, Venu, at the age of 52, delivered a healthy girl on October 9. With tears in her eyes, Venu said, "The system that took away my Harshit has now given me my Harshita."

Asked how it felt to be a father again at 60, Juneja smiled, "I have forgiven the doctor whose negligence took my son away. Now I have to make plans for my daughter."

Dr Narender Malhotra, president-elect, Indian Assisted Reproduction Society, told TOI, "Doctors abroad observe stringent laws and are cautious. India offers a ray of hope to people desperate to be parents."

Source: TOI